The Beauty With In the Beast
by marsupial1974
Summary: It's been over four years since Naomi was cursed for being a cold hearted spoiled rich kid. She and her family have been doing everything they can to break the curse, with no luck. Enter Emily Fitch. With time fast running out, Naomi will have to overcome her pride and her fear to grasp her one chance at happiness and possibly, a chance to break the curse.
1. Prologue: The Beginning of the End

**A/N: Hello to all you wonderful peeps out there:) Okay, here it is! As promised! My version of Beauty and the Beast...Naomily style!**

**I know what you're probably thinking, but give it a chance:) **

**This first chapter is somewhat dark and deals with self harm, so if this offends you, I sincerely apologize, but it's only for this first chapter. **

**Any typos/grammatical errors are all mine:)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Skins or The Beauty and the Beast, but I thought it'd be fun to mix 'em together for this, because we all need a bit of a fairy tale in our lives;)**

* * *

**Prologue: The Beginning of the End**

**September, 2009**

Did you ever go to school with the type of kids that came from money and privilege? You know the ones that would show up in luxury and sports cars that their parents bought for them?

The kind of kids that are cruel and heartless, but everybody lets them get away with it because of who their parents might be? Spoiled, arrogant, think that the world revolves around them?

Yeah, I think you know what kids I'm talking about.

This story is about one of these kids. She was, without a doubt, by far one of the most gorgeous girls in school. She knew it, everybody knew it. Blonde hair, blue eyes, about five feet, eight inches tall and with a body to die for.

On the surface, she was your clean cut, cool English beauty. Does excellent in school, well on her way to the top university in England, does charity work and even volunteers at the pediatric ward at the local hospital.

But if you dig under the surface, and you wouldn't even have to dig that far, you'd find the cruelest, meanest, most spiteful bitch that has ever walked the planet. She only does the charity and volunteering for her mum. The good grades? That's a result of setting up her professors, then a little blackmail, and that's just for the sport of it.

She plays with the hearts of guys and girls alike, and she doesn't care who she hurts. To her, it's all a game. She has a very small group of friends, who are from similar backgrounds, so it's no surprise to find them holding court on the front lawn of their college, sizing up the new students.

"Oh, check that one out!" Says a soft spoken, mysterious brunette. Three heads watch as a tall girl walks up the path toward the school, one of them sizing her up, and then dismissing her instantly.

"No, there's nothing special about her." The blonde replies.

"Don't tell me you've already hit that?" Comes the response from a dark blonde headed boy. "You didn't even share!" He whined.

"No, you twat! I haven't "hit" that, nor will I." The blonde shakes her head and laughs. "She just doesn't look that special. I mean, really look at her." She gestures as the other two comply and seriously look at her.

The girl had long dark hair and a slender body with slight curves. To the brunette and the boy, she's fairly good looking.

"I don't know, made up the right way, she could be a knock out." The brunette states, and the blonde scoffs at her.

"Listen, you could use every ounce of Covergirl's current product line on her and it still wouldn't make her anything special!" The blonde says as the boy laughs at the two of them. "I'm bored. I'm gonna head in."

The blonde gets up from her spot on the grass and makes her own way into the building. She is nearing the dark headed girl, who looks up at her with a smile. As she's about to speak, the blonde shakes her head. "Not a chance." With a smirk on her face, she passes the girl, leaving her to frown at the blonde.

* * *

The blonde walked through the front door of the large home she shared with her mum and Kieran, her mums' boyfriend. He was her politics professor last year and she was more than a little disgusted that the two of them hit it off after a parent teacher meeting. As long as they left her alone, to do what she wanted, she was okay. But there were sometimes when they felt like they had to include her in things. She cringed, as she thought about the charity benefit she was required to attend tonight.

She tried to make her way past the downstairs rooms in order to make it up to her rooms without being noticed, but luck was not on her side at this moment.

"Is that you, dear?" A voice floats in from the kitchen. The blonde grinds her teeth at being caught.

"Yes mother. It's me."

"Oh good, I need to talk to you about tonight." Her mother comes out and fixes her gaze on the blonde.

Sometimes the older woman wonders what ever happened to her daughter. How did she grow up like this? She had tried her best to give the girl everything that she never had growing up, but it seemed like the more she gave, the less respect her daughter had for her.

"What about tonight?" The teenager crossed her arms over her chest and waited impatiently.

Her mother simply sighed at her before answering. "Your dress arrived this morning and it's hanging in your room." The blonde nodded her head and turned to make her way up the stairs once more. "Don't forget, we're meeting the Moores at seven for drinks before the party. They're bringing their daughter Sophia. She's your age and I thought it would be nice for you two to meet."

"What the actual fuck, mum?" The blonde exploded. "It's not bad enough I have to deal with you on a normal basis, but now you're stomping about in my sex life?"

"Sweetheart, I want you to find someone that you can maybe settle down with." The older woman is getting more agitated by the minute. She didn't like to lose her temper with her child, but it was getting harder everyday to see this horrible young girl standing in the place of her daughter. "What happened to you?"

The girl rolled her eyes as her mother stared at her as if she were a stranger. "I have no idea what you mean." She said with a huff. "Nothing's happened to me. I'm perfectly fine. Just because I don't feel like babysitting some poor pathetic loser doesn't mean anything."

The older woman shakes her again because she knows it's no use to argue with the blonde.

"Just be ready. The car will be here soon."

The blonde finally is able to escape this brand of torture, so she makes her way up to her rooms.

* * *

She couldn't believe her mother! The old woman was such a cow! The blonde paced on the balcony, as her friends stood off to the side.

"Why are you so angry about this?" The brunette asked as she took a drag of her ever present cigarette.

The blonde could only stare at her in disgusted shock. She spared a glance at the boy.

"Why am I angry? Did you not hear her in there? Was I the only one paying attention?"

The boy and girl just shrugged at her. "I don't know, Blondie. I think you're making too big a deal outta this." The boy stated.

"What the actual fuck!" She screamed at him and smirked when she saw him shrink a little bit from her. "We," She gestured around to include all three of them, "had plans this summer, remember?"

"So what? You go and do what she's volunteered you for, and then we get on with our plans when you get back."

"That's not the point, you fucking twat! Why can't anyone understand? The point is, that it's _MY_ life, to be able to do with as I choose!" The blonde continues to rant about this tiny injustice, as her friends look on.

The brunette watches and thinks back to when her friend had changed into the person currently pacing in front of her. When they were younger, the blonde was the kindest person she had ever known, but something happened, somewhere along the way and it makes the brunette sad. She has been mourning the loss of her friend ever since. She looked over at the blonde boy and knew that he felt the same. If it wasn't for the fact that sometimes, when the blonde didn't think anybody is looking, you could still see that kind little girl in her eyes, the brunette and the boy would have given up on her a long time ago. She inhales another drag as the blonde suddenly stops pacing.

"Fuck it! I'm going to march in there and tell that bitch I'm not doing it!"

"Blondie!" The boy calls out to her and watches as she turns around. "You shouldn't do it here. You should wait until you get home, so it's private, yeah?"

She shakes her head vehemently, "No! I'm doing this now." She heads back into the ballroom and searches for her mother. When she sees her, she can't help the sneer that's plastered on her face when she notices that her mum and Kieran are standing and talking with the Moores. She was shocked to find out that the daughter her mum wanted to set her up with was none other than the loser from school earlier. Her mum saw her coming toward them and stood in frozen horror, as the blonde let loose her venom.

"I'm not doing it, mother!"

"Sweetheart, please? Not here." The older woman asked with a plea in her voice.

"Yes here, mother! I want to make sure that you understand what I'm about to say to you." She was just getting started and she was about to blow.

She didn't notice when her friends came to stand at her mother's side. She didn't notice when Sophia stood and watched with a bit of glee in her eyes. And she didn't notice when every person in the room stopped what they were doing to watch.

"You think that just because you're my mum, you can tell me what to do and when to do it? I don't fucking think so! My life, my rules! I'm not a child anymore, mother. My friends and I are going to Italy this summer and that's that!" The blonde spat at her mother, and watched as tears fell from her eyes. But she didn't care about that. In fact, she didn't care about anything other than herself. It was easier for her that way, because then she couldn't be hurt and disappointed. She'd had enough of that to last the rest of her life. So she didn't give a fuck if her mum was embarrassed right this moment.

The brunette placed her hand on her arm to try and calm her down, but the blonde shook it off. "As if I would go anywhere with her!" She hurled out and pointed to Sophia, without really looking at the girl.

"Love, please calm down and let's go somewhere to talk about this." Her mum said through her tears.

"No! I will not repeat myself. We are done with this conversation!" She turned and headed out of the quiet ballroom. Leaving her friends, her mum and Kieran and the rest of the gob smacked guests.

Sophia followed after her when no one was looking, as the brunette and the blonde boy went over to the older woman, as she was stunned beyond speech and didn't know what to do. Sophia took a last look around, to make sure that nobody was paying attention to her then slipped out the door in pursuit of the blonde.

* * *

"Naomi!" The blonde heard from behind her, but didn't recognize the voice. She stopped and turned, prepared to give the newcomer a piece if her mind, but was surprised to see Sophia there.

"What the fuck do you want?" She growled at the girl. Sophia only smiled at her, which infuriated her more. "Well?" She asked, as she raised her eyebrow.

Sophia started laughing at her now. Naomi could only stare at her. After a few minutes, Sophia wiped the tears from her eyes and fixed her gaze on Naomi.

"You're a right bitch, aren't you?" The girl asked, but didn't wait for an answer. "You don't care about anyone, do you?"

Naomi crossed her arms over her chest and stayed silent.

"That's okay. You don't have to answer me. I think everyone already knows the truth. But you do know you're all alone, right?" Sophia waved her arm to show the empty street, where they were currently standing. "You notice that I'm the only one who followed you. But you don't care about that." She stated with a fake sweetness in her voice.

Naomi was getting angrier by the minute, but something in Sophia's eyes kept her in place, even as she desperately wanted to run.

"Poor Naomi, all alone still. With no one to hold your hand." Sophia got closer to the taller blonde. "Did they really hurt you that much?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Naomi said in the bored tone, the one she'd perfected over the years.

"Tsk, tsk, now Naomi. You're amongst friends here." The girl said as she gestured around again to the empty street. "There's no need to keep secrets from your friends." She smirked as Naomi gulped audibly. "The least you could do is be honest with yourself. But in case you've forgotten, I'll remind you." Sophia stepped back and started pacing around the blonde. "Gareth Campbell."

Naomi hissed at the mention of her father.

"Oh, and let's see, what was her name?" She asked, as she made a show of it, by tapping her finger against her lips, as if she was trying to grasp the one name that would totally ruin the blonde. "Oh, yes. That's right. Chelsea Stoddard."

Naomi flinched as if she was in physical pain. "How did you know about her?" Naomi asked in a whisper. "Nobody knows about her."

"I know more than you think. Not bad for loser, huh?" Sophia's eyes sparked with hatred now. "But it's not as if you'd know about that, would you? You're closed off to everything around you. You might as well be dead."

Naomi shrank at her words, and tried to close off the memories they brought up.

"But you didn't even try hard at that either did you?" Again Sophia knew something that no one else did and Naomi was starting to freak out a little at her ability. "Just a little bit deeper with that tiny blade would have done the trick, you know. But, sweet Naomi, always the coward."

"Shut the fuck up!" Naomi yelled at her as the other girl started laughing again. But she didn't stop, she just kept laughing at the pain that was obvious on Naomi's face. "Please?"

Sophia looked up sharply at the word that tumbled out of the blondes' mouth. "Are you begging now, Naomi? Isn't that beneath you? Beautiful, perfect Naomi? How do you think you'd survive without the beauty? How would you handle being average? If you couldn't sit on your throne and pass judgment on anyone, or _HURT_ anyone?" Sophia emphasized the word. "Tell me, Naomi, how many people have you _HURT_ over the last few years?"

"I haven't hurt anyone." Naomi tried to defend herself, but she wasn't too confident.

"Really? Shall I name some names for you? Or maybe just one name, to be exact."

Naomi shook her head, not wanting her to go on but Sophia kept on going. "Does the name Ashley Daniels mean anything to you?"

Naomi's face blanched because it did mean something to her.

"I see that you remember her. That's good. We wouldn't want you to forget." Sophia came to stand in front of Naomi. "Did you know that Ashley was my girlfriend until you came along?"

Naomi shook her head, afraid to say anything. Oh, who was she kidding? Naomi was afraid of the girl in front of her, because now her eyes were full of rage along with the hate.

"Yes. She was my first and only love. But when she started going to your school, she met you and your friends. She couldn't stop talking about you and I knew that I was losing her. To you." Sophia started to look sad now. "When she came to me, I knew what she was going to ask me. And because I loved her, I let her go because she told me that you were the one. She told me that you had made her happier than she'd ever been before." She turned to glare at the blonde. "Do you know how much that killed me inside? To know that someone else, and not me, was the reason for her happiness? Do you know how I died a little that day as I watched her walk away?"

Naomi could only stand there, shaking in fear, as the girl wiped away the tears, that had fallen silently.

"Do you know how badly I wanted to kill you when she finally came back to me, broken? You chased her, made her fall in love with you and after you used her body and soul, you threw her away like a broken toy!" She was shouting now, and she seemed to collect herself. With a deep breath she looked back into Naomi's eyes. "Do you know what happened to her?" She asked the blonde.

Naomi shook her head slightly.

"What was that? I didn't hear you! Do you know what happened to that sweet beautiful girl?" Her eyes locked on Naomi's.

"No." The word was small but it was heavy coming out of her mouth.

Sophia could barely contain her rage now, Naomi could see that and she braced herself for any blows that would come from the other girl.

"Well, let me tell you. Ashley stopped going to school, stopped talking to her parents and brother. She barely talked to me. I tried to fix her, but she was hurt too badly and never was the same. For six months after you fucked her over, she hung on to what little sanity she had, until the demons you planted in her finally took over. She killed herself..." Sophia choked back a sob as she remembered all too well what happened to her girl. "She took a razor blade to her perfect body. She carved into her beautiful skin, images that will forever stay on her." Sophia's tears fell freely now, but she didn't care. "She left you a note, by the way."

Naomi was shocked by that admission, but remained silent, because what could she say to that?

"She did. Carved into her flesh. Do you want to know what she said? No?" Sophia noticed the slight head shake. "But it was so beautiful and touching, so I'm going to tell you."

Naomi was feeling the weight of her actions now and felt the burden she was going to have to carry.

"Her message was 'I will always love you Naomi'." Sophia stopped talking as the words sank into Naomi's brain. "Even as she sliced into her wrists to end the pained you caused, she still loved you. Even though she meant nothing to you!"

Naomi started to cry for the first time since Chelsea ripped her heart out four years ago. Sophia watched her as the tears fell from her eyes unchecked.

"She told me that it was because you were so beautiful." Sophia said softly, forcing Naomi to bring her head up again to look at her. "That's what drew her to you, your perfect beauty she called it. She told me someone as beautiful as you could never be cruel, when I tried to tell her that you hurt her. She said you were perfect. If she could have only seen the ugliness in your heart, she wouldn't have fallen for you." Sophia shook her head. But I'm going to fix that."

"What are you going to do?" Naomi asked.

"I'm going to show people how ugly and hateful you really are."

Sophia started to speak softly again, so softly that Naomi couldn't hear what she was saying. But Naomi did see that the other girls'eyes seemed to be glowing in the darkness. When she couldn't stand it anymore and was about to break away, she felt a tingling throughout her body and she heard Sophia's words.

"Until you can learn to cherish love and see the beauty beneath, you will have neither. You and those closest to you will be frozen in time-" she was cut off by Naomi.

"What do you mean those closest to me? Why should this affect them?"

"Because they sat by and let you become a monster. Now as I was saying.. You and those closest to you will be frozen in time until aChild of Gemini falls in love with you." She sees the look of glee inNaomi's eyes and guessed at what she was thinking. "You'll see it won't be so easy, Naomi. They'll have to fall in love with the real you." Now Sophia smirked at her, as Naomi's face fell at her words.

Before Sophia walked away, she glanced once more at the blonde. "Oh, I should mention that you only have so much time. But don't worry; you'll know when time is running out." With those words, she disappeared down the street and out of site.

"Bloody hell." Naomi said as she released the breath she had been holding for the last few minutes. "What a crazy bitch!"

Before she could make a move, Naomi heard laughter floating through the night, mocking her.

"We'll see who's the crazy one Naomi." She heard whispered through the air. "Better get busy."

* * *

**Well? What did you guys think? I'm about seven chapters ahead on this, and like I said, only this one chapter was dark...so, let me know what you think!**

**Marsupial:-)**


	2. Chapter 1: The Beauty

**A/N:**** Well, I seem to be stuck again on "The Road to Wimbledon", and I'm feeling a little upset about that. So I offer you another chapter of this one:)**

**Please keep in mind, that this one may take longer to update, as there is a shit ton of research involved in writing it because I find that my stories, much like my music, brings out the perfectionist in me:( **

**A huge massive shout out to KairiM, who is a damn fine author and is seriously kind:) so if for some reason, like say, you've been living under a rock your whole life, you haven't read her stories, then you should do so right now! I mean it...go ahead, I'll wait! **

**And I'd like to apologize right now if I haven't gotten around to reading/reviewing your story, I'm kinda behind:( but I promise I'll get to it!**

**Disclaimer: uh...I wish?**

* * *

**Chapter 1- The Beauty**

**December, 2013**

Emily made her way across the field that separated her house from her best friend Panda's house. It didn't bother her to walk home this late night. It was actually pleasant to do so. At home she had to deal with her family, not that she didn't love them, but they were a little bit full on. Her mum and sister, Katie, were always in her business, her younger brother, James, was a bit of a perv. But she did seem to have her dad on her side, and he more than made up for the rest of them.

It was on one of these walks home a couple of years ago that Emily realized that she was gay. She always knew that she was a bit different, but she had never been able to put her finger on the actual difference, until she fell in lust with Courtney Swanson in the last year of school before college. Courtney was a shining example of the perfect female form. Tall, with legs that were perfect, natural red hair with green eyes, that always seemed to shine with mischief and curves in all the right places.

* * *

_Courtney was one of Katie's friends, and so she was always at their house. Emily happened to walk in on her getting out of the shower, and ended up seeing a whole new side of the red head. From that moment on she made it her mission to spend as much time with the girl as possible, without Katie getting suspicious. It wasn't always easy, but Emily kept up a steady stream of two-sided flirting, that she felt sure would pay off._

_Once, when Emily's parents and little brother went out of town for the weekend, Katie had decided to throw a party at their house. So Emily took the chance to see if the other girl felt the same as she did. It all started out as a challenge to Emily, but after watching Courtney flirt with her, then continually snog random blokes all night, Emily was fed up. She grabbed a bottle of vodka, a couple of spliffs off of Freddie and made her way into her garden. It wasn't long until Courtney found her, drowning herself in the alcohol._

_"What's up, Emsy?" She sat down next to the smaller girl._

_"Why the fuck do you care?" Emily slurred._

_Courtney stared at her for a few minutes, as she fidgeted with her shirtsleeve. "Are you mad at me?"_

_Emily snorted at the question, shot the girl a glare and took a long pull off the bottle._

_"Emily, please tell me what's wrong." The girl pleaded. _

_"I think you know, Court. But then again, maybe you're not that smart after all."_

_"Okay. Maybe I'm not that smart and I need you I spell it out for me, because I honestly don't know."_

_"So,you spend all your spare time flirting with girls and then turn around and practically shag half the male population on a daily basis?" Emily said, almost shouting at her._

_"Emily, please keep your voice down." Courtney looked around to make sure that no one was near to hear the small girl's rant. "I wasn't flirting with you."_

_"Bullshit. But you know what, fuck it! I don't need this hassle." Emily threw the bottle down and started to get up. Before she could get very far, Courtney grabbed her arm and pulled her back down. Emily was about to kick off when she felt the other girl's lips on hers. _

_Emily felt as if she was going insane. All her senses were on alert as Courtney continued to caress her lips with her own. She had never felt anything this wonderful before and she never wanted it to end. On instinct alone, she changed the angle of the kiss and felt herself diving deeper into the other girl. If she died right now, she would die happy. Emily was vaguely aware of Courtney straddling her lap. She brought her hands up and placed them on the small of the red head's back, as she moaned into the kiss. Emily was ready to make her next move, when she heard Katie's voice behind her._

_"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?" Courtney jumped up off Emily's lap and pushed her back at the same time. "THAT'S MY SISTER, BITCH!"_

_Emily could see fear in the taller girl's eyes, as Katie finally reached them. She knew this wasn't going to end well for either of them. She stood up and brushed herself off as Courtney stammered, searching for an excuse. "Katie, it's not what it looks like!"_

_"Really slag? Because it looked like you were trying to remove Emsy's tonsils with your tongue." Courtney flushed at Katie's description of their kiss. _

_"She kissed me! I was trying to get her stop!" Emily couldn't believe her ears. She naively thought Courtney would confess that she loved her, but instead the girl was trying to lay all the blame on her._

_"What the fuck, Courtney?" Emily cried out as she silently pleaded with the girl. When she just stood there, Emily knew that Courtney had never cared at all for her. With her heart broken for the very first time, she turned to Katie, as the older twin waited for some kind of confirmation from Emily. "Fuck this! She kissed me, Katie." The red head gasped as Katie moved toward her, intent on causing real damage._

_"Katie, don't hurt her." It seemed as if Katie was going to ignore her, so Emily grabbed her arm to get her attention. "Please, Katie. Just let her go." Katie looked at her sister, truly looked at her, for the first time tonight. She could see the pain etched across her face and it didn't sit well with her. Katie hated seeing her sister in pain. She turned back to her friend and made her decision._

_"You're fucking lucky that Emily is so nice. But I'm not, so you can pretty much fuck off now!" _

_"Katie! I'm telling you the truth!" Courtney desperately pleaded to the older twin. She knew that if Katie dropped their friendship, she'd be done socially at school. "We've been friends for ages, you can't do this!"_

_"Bitch! I'm trying to be nice because my sister asked me to be, but you're making a bit difficult." Emily smirked as Katie caught her eye. "In fact, I may have to ignore Emsy here, and just beat the fuck outta you!"_

_Katie and Emily had the satisfaction of watching all color drain from Courtney's face, then watched as she ran around the side of the house, leaving the twins standing there._

_Emily waited for the wrath of Katie Fucking Fitch, she knew there would be fallout from having her sister catch her sucking the face off a girl. When Katie didn't say anything right away, she started to expect the worst._

_"Courtney Swanson? You couldn't have picked someone else? You had to choose the biggest slut in the whole school?" Emily was more than a little shocked at how calm her sister was being. She thought to sure that Katie would lose her shit, but she was actually concerned. "You could really do so much better." With a huff, Katie turned on her four inch heels and went back to the house, leaving Emily to wonder what the hell just happened._

* * *

It was relatively easy for Emily after that. Katie's acceptance made it better for her. So much better, that she set her parents down and told them both that she was gay. When her mum started to protest and tell her it was just a phase, Katie stood by her side and helped her to convince their mum.

That had been almost four years ago, and Emily felt her life was pretty damn good. Well, except for the fact that she has never had a proper girlfriend. But that was a minor detail that she was more than willing to keep seeing to. Things at home had gotten better over the years, and it turned out, her mum became her biggest supporter. Jenna Fitch even started a local support group for parents with gay children. But for all the love her mum gave her, she was still an annoying parent. She was always trying to set Emily up on dates, and not always with nice people either. The newest girl being paraded around by Jenna is Mandy.

Mandy has this ability to be very sweet and attentive whenever they are in the company of the Fitches. But away from them, Mandy is just a royal bitch! Emily's mum won't listen to her whenever she tries to explain to her, Jenna keeps insisting that the girl is a good match for her daughter. As Emily rounds the last hedge that separates her land from Pandas, she wonders how she now finds herself smack dab in the middle of a modern day Jane Austen novel. A good match for her? As if that's even possible!

First of all, Mandy is unusually tall. Emily has had conversations with her tits more often than not, because she gets a neck cramp trying to hold eye contact! And secondly, she is not easy on the eyes! Not that any of that would matter, if she wasn't such a cunt! Mandy is selfish, arrogant, possessive and insecure. That alone makes her an unsuitable match, in Emily's eyes.

Emily knows, in her heart, that she'll find the "One" someday. But it doesn't have to be now; she's only nineteen for fucks sake! Nope, Emily is more than happy going out with her sister, clubbing with her friends and meeting new people. It's not even about shagging; it's about the connection with someone else.

Emily was so lost in her thoughts, that when her mobile went off, she jumped. She felt stupid and was thankful that no one else was around to see it. She checked the caller ID, and then grinned.

"Hey, funsponge! What are you up to?" She smiled into the phone, as her other best friend, Freddie, stuttered on the other end of the line.

"I'll have you know, that I have us lined up for the party of the year, this weekend." He sounded so proud. "It's gonna be mint!"

Emily thought about what was going on this weekend, and the only thing she could think of was the annual Campbell Charity Ball. "Freddie! How did you score tickets for that mate?" She asked with a grin.

"I did a job the other day. The guy was so impressed with my work, that he offered the tickets as a tip." Freddie was a graphic artist and sometimes did murals for some of the bigger businesses around Bristol.

"What guy?" Emily asked with a little suspicion in her voice.

"Some guy that works for the Campbell Corporation." He said. "Listen mate, I've got enough tickets for all of us to go, so get with your parents and Katie and make sure you have lovely ball gown."

Emily groaned loudly enough to have Freddie laughing. "Are you shitting me? I mean I know it's a fancy do and all, but a ball gown?"

"Well, maybe not, but its gotta be as formal as possible." He told her. She agreed with him and knew that her mum was gonna be unbearable about a ball gown. She was about to hang up when Freddie shouted through the phone at her. "By the way, Ems, it's a masquerade ball!" With that, he hung up and left her gaping at the phone.

* * *

The Campbell Corp. had started out as a small business back in the late 80's, early 90's. It had grown so large over the last two decades, that they were able to donate millions of pounds to all sorts of charities. Actually, in the last four years, it seems that's all they've done.

The corporation used to be one of the leading manufacturers of household products, but now they concentrated on foreign projects, mainly. Doctors Without Borders, Doctors Worldwide, Greenpeace, Learning for Life, Musicians Without Borders, Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and many more. It was founded and run by Gareth and Gina Campbell, until Gareth had decided he wasn't cut out for the corporate world, or the family world, and left his wife and eleven year old daughter.

Emily did a school project on the company, because she found them interesting. Four years ago, When Gina Campbell, now Gina MacFoeinaiugh, found out that a lot of their products were harmful to the environment, she dissolved the manufacturing and distribution side and put all corporate efforts into the philanthropic side. Emily did find out that they maintained one software development company that developed all kinds of software for educational and environmental needs.

There was a mystery surrounding the whole company that Emily found interesting. She had been excited all week long, so much that she didn't even mind the constant shopping trips with Katie and their mum. She did however object to all the dresses that the other two tried to pick for her. She had her own fashion sense and she planned to show it.

Once she was dressed, she headed downstairs. The plan was for everyone to meet at the Fitches, and then make their way to the ball. It was being held in the At-Bristol event center, as always. And Emily had a really great feeling about tonight. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw that everyone was there. Well, almost everyone.

"Katie! Hurry the fuck up!" Emily shouted up the stairs.

Panda, Freddie and JJ laughed at the twins. This had been normal behavior for as long as they could remember.

Jenna and Rob came into the lounge as Katie made her way down the stairs.

"Girls! You look lovely this evening." Rob greeted his daughters with a Fitch hug.

"Thanks dad." Emily looked around the room. "Is everybody ready? The car will be here in a few minutes."

Everyone said yes, so they all grabbed their coats and made sure that they had their masks. After watching the long black car make its way up the street, they all filed out to it.

The ride took about twenty minutes, but to Emily it seemed to take forever. She loved her family, fiercely, but spending time with them in close quarters was painful. She almost cried with relief, when the car pulled up in front of the building that was hosting the ball. The driver waited for a few minutes before opening the door. Emily slipped her mask into place as she exited the limo last.

Her group was rather large, and not for the first time that night, she was surprised that Freddie was able to get so many tickets. She looked over to her friends as they entered the building, and she couldn't help but smile at them.

Freddie had his armed draped across Katie's shoulders, as she was telling him about her dress. He caught Emily's eye and gave her a wink. Panda and JJ walked ahead of them, and were in a deep conversation. Emily stayed behind them all, as she took in the splendor of the event center.

It was a beautiful space in its own right, but all decked out for the night, it was spectacular. There were large pictures hung all over the place, depicting all the charities that the Campbell Corp. donated money to. She couldn't get over the amount of organizations that benefitted from their generosity.

She lingered in the foyer, trying to take in all the artwork and information, when she felt a presence beside her. At first she thought it was Freddie, but when she turned to say something, she saw it was a woman.

"It's impressive work, isn't it?" The woman asked.

"Yes, it is." Emily replied. "Do you work for the company?"

"Yes, I am the personal assistant to Campbell, herself." The woman explained, impressing Emily. "I'm Effy, by the way. Effy Stonem."

"Hello, Effy. Emily Fitch." She shook Effy's hand.

Effy took a minute to look at the other girl. The younger girl was short, around 5'3, muscular, but not overly so. What drew Effy's attention, though, was the color of her hair. It was red, but not a normal natural red. It almost looked like the color of cherries. It was different and unique and the girl pulled it off well. She couldn't see the girl's face because of the mask that covered most of it, but she wasn't really concerned with her looks. Her goal was to dig deeper and find the woman inside.

"Hello, Emily. On behalf of the Campbell family, I hope you enjoy yourself this evening. Would you allow me to escort you inside?" Effy leaned in to whisper in her ear, "I hear that's where the real party is." She said as if it was a secret.

Emily laughed at her as she gestured for Effy to lead the way."I'd be delighted." Emily hooked her arm through the brunette's. "So, can I ask you a few questions?" Emily asked.

"You can, but I may not answer." She said, mysteriously. Her blue eyes piercing into Emily, as if she'd be able to see all of the red heads secrets. "Ask away."

Emily asked the most common questions first about the company, some she knew the answers to, but wanted a bit of clarification on. Effy had no problems answering her, it wasn't top secret, but then she started asking harder questions.

"So what are the Campbells' like?" Emily asked, with evident curiosity. "I did a research paper on the Corporation in my last year of college, but nothing much came up about the family." She explained to a shocked Effy.

"They like the focus to remain on the business." Effy said. "They're very private people."

"I understand that. They must get overrun whenever they leave the house." Emily agreed with Effy's explanation.

As they talked, Emily finally noticed that they had entered into the main room, and was blown away by the decorating. As she tried to take everything in, Effy threw her off balance with a question of her own.

"Who designed your dress?" Effy was looking her up and down again, but not in a sexual way. Emily couldn't decide whether to be disappointed or relieved by that fact.

"I have a friend in London, Clayton Scott. He's taking fashion design at Uni, and he sent it over." Emily ran her hand down the front of the dress. It was an elegant sheath, falling to her knees. It was black and brought out the color of her hair. The dress hugged every curve her body had and it made Emily feel sexy.

"Well, it's absolutely gorgeous. You'll have to give me his number." Effy told her as they made their way to the receiving line.

"Effy, luv. Who have we here?" Asked an older woman.

"Emily Fitch, I would love for you to meet Kieran and Gina MacFoeinaiugh." Effy made the introductions as Emily shook hands with the older couple.

"It's such a pleasure to meet you both. I have been a huge admirer of your charitable work for a long time." Emily smiled at them.

"That's a lovely thing for you to say, Emily."Gina returned her smile and then looked as if she was deep in thought. "Fitch? Why does that name sound familiar?"

Emily's face turned a bit red. "Well, I may have made a nuisance of myself. I did a project on your company and continually called whilst I was doing research."

Gina laughed at the red head's admission. "Right, I remember now. My PA told me if he had to take one more of your calls, he would quit and leave me high and dry." Gina told her with a twinkle in her eyes, that Emily could see through her mask. "Don't worry, dear, he didn't quit."

"Effy, why don't you take the lass around and introduce her to everyone?" Kieran told Effy, to which she smiled and nodded her head. "It was lovely to meet you."

"Same here." With another handshake, Emily followed after Effy. Emily couldn't help but notice the brunette's backside as she walk a couple of steps behind her. The slightly taller girl had an impressive body, but Emily found she could only appreciate it as just that. After a few minutes of introductions with random people, Emily caught sight of her family and the two of them headed over.

"Effy, I'd like for you to meet my mum and dad, Jenna and Rob Fitch."

"Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you. Effy Stonem." The brunette held her hand out.

"Hello, dear." Jenna said as she took the younger girl's hand. "Are you here with anyone?" Emily rolled her eyes at her mum, she was so bloody obvious. Effy chuckled at the question and Emily's response.

"No, ma'am. I'm working. I'm with the Campbell Corp., so it's my job to make sure everyone else is having a good time." Effy paused for a moment, then looked at the woman and her husband. "Are you having a good time?" she said in a sultry voice. Everyone laughed at her, as she smirked.

Effy, Jenna and Emily talked for a little bit longer, when Katie and Freddie walked over toward them.

"Katie, Freddie, this is Effy Stonem." Emily made the introductions.

"Hello. Emily, I just came to give you a heads up." Katie said, as she dismissed Effy.

"What are you talking about?" Emily asked in confusion, as her brows furrowed together.

"The Sasquatch, also known as Mandy, is here." Freddie said with a grin, as Emily groaned. Effy caught a look exchanged between Jenna and Rob that she didn't quite place, but she filed it away for later.

Katie seemed to finally noticed Effy. "Sorry, who are you?"

The taller brunette smirked at her, as she once again held out her hand. "Effy Stonem."

"Right. I'm Emily's sister, Katie and this is Freddie." Effy greeted both of them properly, now that they were focused on her.

"Who's Mandy?" Effy asked.

"Just a psycho that my mum's been trying to set me up with." Emily explained with a grimace.

"Emily! She's a very nice girl." Her mum stated, a bit petulantly.

"Mum, she's a bitch with money, that's all she'll ever be. She's selfish and mean spirited." Emily crossed her arms over her chest and stood her ground with her mum. "She's only 'nice' when you and dad are around. She thinks I'm her property and to be honest, there is nothing about her I find attractive."

Katie decided to put her opinion into the mix. "It's true, mum. The bitch is a total cow!" She said as she looked around the small group of people. Effy looked on in amusement, until she started to really notice the two sisters.

Standing next to each other, Effy saw that they were the same height, their figures were almost the same, they wore the same hairstyle, which didn't really mean anything, actually, but when she took in the identical poses she started to get excited.

"If you would excuse me, I have some last minute details to see to." Effy said to them. "But, please enjoy yourselves and I'll be back as soon as I can." She told Emily.

"Sorry, Effy, we didn't mean to keep you. Go on, and go. We'll be fine." Emily replied. Effy gave a nod of her head before she turned on her heel and left them.

* * *

"Effy, would mind explaining why you dragged us all up here?" Gina was a bit annoyed at having to leave her guests unattended.

Effy had gathered Gina, Kieran and Cook after she took her leave of the Fitches and now they were all waiting for her to explain herself. They all saw an unusually giddy Effy, as she bounced from foot to foot with excitement.

"Come on, out with it babe." Cook gave a sideways glance to Kieran, and then sighed as the older man just shrugged at him.

"Is she here yet?" Effy asked Gina. "She has to be here too." She whined, which put a frown on the older woman's face.

"She's upstairs. She'll be down in a bit. You know she doesn't come down until later."

"Fuck it! This is too good to wait." Effy paused to catch her breath. "I found it!" Her eyes gleamed with delight as she told them.

"Okay? What did you find?" Gina asked calmly. Over the past four years, she had become used to the mysteries and quirks of both Effy and Cook, but she had never seen the young girl look this delusional. Gina glanced at her husband, as he looked bored and uncomfortable. Once again he shrugged, to indicate that he had absolutely no idea what she was banging in about.

"A Child of Gemini!" She almost shouts it out as the other three just stare at her in disbelief.

"Fuck you." Cook said with no heat to it. "Efs, are you on something?"

Effy started pacing back and forth, wringing her hands together, as she got more wound up. "I wasn't for sure at first, but when they were standing next to each other, it was more noticeable, even with the masks on I could tell, so I did a background check on their parents and sure enough, I was right!"

"Okay, calm down Effy! You're getting all worked up." Gina took a hold of the smaller girl. "Who are you talking about?"

"Emily and Katie Fitch!"

"Alright, and what would make one of them a Child of Gemini?" Kieran finally got with the program and made a contribution. "You know we've all done the research! We've never even figured out who the Children of Gemini were, if they even existed!"

"I think this has all gotten to be too much for her. She was never that stable to begin with." Cook stated, as he threw a concerned glance at his friend. He had been getting worried about her and Naomi in the past couple of years as it was, but now he was sure that Effy had finally slipped over the edge.

"Fuck you, James Cook!" She whipped around to face him with her icy glare. "I have been doing just as much as you all have, and I am positive that one of those girls is the key!"

Gina knew she would have to step in before Cook snapped the leash on his temper. Not for the first time in the last four years, she was thankful that their relationship didn't work out. They would have killed each other if they had stayed together, but even living together put strains on them. So much so, that they would have to leave the confines of the property to blow off steam. Gina shook herself out of her thoughts, back to the situation at hand.

"Effy, luv, why are you so sure?" Gina asked her gently.

Effy finally stopped pacing and ranting. Taking a deep breath to calm herself she looked at them with a smile that looked out of place on her face.

"Because they're twins!"

* * *

**Well? What'd y'all think? **

**I'm shamelessly asking for reviews on this one, because, well I really wanna know what you guys think:) **

**So you know what to do...:)**

**And I'm hoping to update TRtW by the end of the week:)**

**Soupy:-)**


	3. Chapter 2: The Beast

**A/N: Hello everyone:) HAPPY MONDAY! I hope everyone is having a great day. I wasn't going to post this until the end of the week, but because I'm having a marvelous hair day, I decided what the heck, so here you go:)**

**I wanna take this moment to thank everyone who's read/followed and/or added this as a favorite. You all seriously make my day when you read and review, THANK YOU! I understand that it's a bit slower than my other story, so I appreciate you all for sticking with it:) **

**Any typos/grammatical errors are all mine and I apologize for them;)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Skins, nor do I own the Beauty and the Beast, but man, I wish I did!**

* * *

**Chapter 2- The Beast **

December, 2013

Naomi sat in the dark room, waiting to make her entrance. She hated these events, but had to do them nonetheless. After Sophia cursed her four years ago, there were a lot of things that Naomi had to do. She hated the situation she and her family found themselves in, but she knew it was all her fault. The amount of guilt she's had to live with since that fateful night had become almost too much to bear.

She felt the weight of that guilt every time she looked at Effy and Cook, and saw the changes in them. True to her word, Sophia had cursed her two friends and her parents. Now the five of them lived in a limbo of sorts that somehow worked, for the most part. Naomi knew that they got on each other's nerves, but she was really glad she wasn't alone. 'Fuck that sounded selfish!' She thought to herself, but she couldn't help it. It took the whole first year to accept what had happened to her, after a shit ton of self reflection and drinking. She had to laugh at that. That was their answer to everything back then, 'If you can't figure it out, drink it away'. But it didn't make the horrible reality that they were living disappear.

Shortly after that first year, she came to understand that no matter how much she wanted to, she couldn't even hate Sophia for what she did, because Naomi knew that what had happened to Ashley, was in fact her fault, entirely. Sophia had been so heartbroken, so shattered over the loss of Ashley, that Naomi felt lucky it was only the curse that Sophia inflicted on her.

The tears that came freely now, whenever she thought about Ashley, started to fall. Naomi made no attempt to brush them away, because she needed the tears to remind her of who she used to be. A cold, selfish, unfeeling cunt! The effects of the curse had been quite simple, actually. Her family was basically stuck in time, whilst the world moved on around them. So even though it had been four years later, her mum, Kieran, Effy and Cook didn't look a day older, but herself on the other hand... to be honest she wouldn't know. Naomi hasn't been able to look in a mirror since the morning after her "talk" with Sophia.

Another stipulation that was hard to deal with, they couldn't be away from each other for more than twelve hours at a time. That was something that Naomi didn't understand, no matter how much she tried. Maybe it was so that none of them would just take off. She didn't know and had given up trying to figure it out a long time ago.

Just like she had given up any hope of breaking this damn curse. She knew that Kieran had searched and searched for a fucking Child of Gemini and had come up with absolute fuck all! Her stepdad had talked with every Greek mythologist all over the world, and nobody knew anything. Naomi also knew that her time was running out. Sophia gave her five years and she had less than a year left.

She let out the breath she was holding without realizing it. Naomi was dreading the time that she would have to go out to the ballroom. It unnerved her to be around a lot of people, but the needs of the family business demand that she makes this annual appearance. She shook her head and wiped her face with her hands, in exasperation. She had a feeling about tonight, but she couldn't tell if it was a bad feeling or a good one, but her whole body seemed to be pulsing with an electrical current.

She looked at her watch and noticed that it was almost time to head out, so she stood up and brushed down the front of her tailored suit, making sure there were no creases in it, adjusted the high collar that covered her neck and brushed her jaw line, and ran a hand through her blonde hair that reached just past her shoulders in golden waves.

Once she was sure everything was in order, she slipped her full faced mask in place. As she did, her mum stepped into the room, along with Effy. She shot a glance at the girl when she noticed her fidgeting, which was uncharacteristic of the brunette.

"What?" She asked looking at them both. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, luv." Gina said with a smile. "Are you ready?"

Naomi hated the fact that she needed to be escorted by her mum and Effy, but she would have a panic attack if one of them wasn't close by.

"Yeah, let's get it done with." Naomi said, unenthusiastically. "I know, mum. You don't have to worry. I'll be my charming self." She said, when she noticed her mum was about to kick off about her attitude. "I know the drill." She placed her hand on the older woman's arm to calm her down.

"I have a really good feeling about tonight, Nai." Effy laced her arm through Naomi's and pulled her toward the door. "There are some really interesting people here this year."

"Is Mitchell from the Children's Foundation here?"

It was Naomi's suggestion to dissolve the manufacturing side of the business and work solely on the charities after the curse happened, and her mother was more than happy to do it. But it was hard work at first, mainly because there was a lot of traveling involved and neither one of them were able to do it. So they had to hire someone to do it in the end.

It was a godsend that they were able to find Thomas. He was from the Congo, and had come to England for a better life for him, his mum and siblings. He had been in his first year of Uni, when he came and applied for a position in the company. Gina and Kieran had found him to be very friendly, personable, and intelligent, so they offered him the chance to represent the Campbell Corporation.

Thomas did all the traveling and the rest of them worked behind the scenes, with Gina being the face of the company. Naomi made sure that nothing was ever mentioned about her, much to her mum's disappointment.

"Yes, he arrived a while ago. And Thomas is almost here as well. He said things are working out nicely and not to worry." Gina answered.

They made their way down a hallway of sorts and the closer they got to the main room, the more nervous Naomi got. She could feel a current of electricity pulsing through her, let left her feeling a bit unnerved. She pulled at her stiff collar, made sure her cuff links were perfect and was just about to adjust her mask, when Effy took her hand and squeezed it, to reassure her that she looked fine.

"Nai, relax. Everything is going to be alright, yeah?" Naomi swallowed audibly, but nodded her head.

"Yeah, I know, but I hate this part."

"I know." The other girl said quietly, as they passed through a door and moved into the crowd.

Once they were out there, Gina and Effy both stepped away from her so people didn't think she was an invalid, but they stayed near her. Kieran and Cook saw them come in and made their way over to them.

"Fuck me, blondie! You're pretty fit in that getup." Cook said with a grin on his face that reached up to his eyes.

"Thanks, ya perv!" She laughed at him. That's one thing she loved about him, he could always make her laugh. Effy smirked at the exchange, but Naomi still sensed that something was wrong with her. "You're looking pretty good yourself." She said as she looked him up and down. In the tailored tux, Cook did look good.

Effy looked around the room, as if she was looking for someone. Naomi didn't know what to make of it, when her mum pulled her away to speak with some of the charity heads. Effy finally found who she was looking for and drug Cook over to where the Fitches were.

"Mr. and Mrs. Fitch?" Effy said as she came up to them. They turned around and greeted her with smiles. "I'd like you to meet James Cook. He heads up the security for the company."

"Hello James." Rob Fitch held out a hand to the younger man. "I'm Rob and this is my wife Jenna." He told Cook, who was now shaking hers. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine, sir. Please call me Cook." He said with a wink to Jenna, making her blush. "I hope you're enjoying everything we have to offer tonight?" He asked and they both gave him smiles and nods.

Effy made sure to keep an eye on Naomi, as she went from group to group with Gina and Kieran.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Fitch? Are your daughters still around? They haven't left yet, have they?" Effy asked, nervous all of a sudden.

"Oh no, dear. They're still here, their friends dragged them off somewhere." She said with a smile. Effy whispered something into Cooks ear, watched him nod at her and she was off in search of the Fitch sisters.

* * *

"Naomi, it has been a wonderful experience working with you this past year." Naomi smiled at the slightly older man. "Thank you, Mitchell. I hope you have continued success." She shook his hand and looked around for her mum or Kieran. "Would you excuse me? I need to find my mum." He nodded and said goodbye as she headed over to where they were.

It always took a while for her to feel relaxed enough around other people, she was always afraid they'd see her through the mask. As she made her way over to her mum, she saw Effy heading toward the entrance, so Naomi switch directions and followed her.

As she reached the double doors, she heard raised voices. Effy's for sure, but others as well. Naomi hesitated, until one voice stuck out above the others.

"Mandy, you need to leave me the fuck alone!" The voice said. It was deep, but not so deep that you didn't know it was a girl's voice. It was also husky and distinctive and made Naomi shiver with anticipation. She felt the need to hear that voice again. Naomi shook herself out of her reverie when she heard another, more unpleasant voice.

"Why are you acting this way?" The other voice asked with a hint of a whine. This voice was not pleasant at all and only grated on Naomi's sensitive nerves. "I thought we were coming here together, I was a little hurt when I got to your house and James told me you were already here."

"Listen, bitch! Why don't you take a fucking hint and leave her alone, yeah?"

Naomi was starting to get confused now. This new voice sounded a bit like the first one, but not as husky and raspy. She pushed the door open, and silently made her way over to the group of people standing in the foyer. She saw that Effy was standing there, observing the scene, as usual.

Along with Effy, there were two guys and four girls, but one of them was clearly an outsider, because the rest of them seemed to be surrounding one of the smaller girls in a protective circle. The tallest girl looked as if she was trying to get to her. As she reached her hand out, Naomi watched the smaller girl recoil with disgust.

"Don't touch me!" The husky voice came from the small girl, but the other girl didn't listen.

"Oi! She said don't touch her, slag!" Naomi heard the other small girl shout, with a lisp that was more pronounced when she got angry. It looked as if the second small girl was going to throw a punch, so Naomi knew she had to react.

"Is there a problem here?" She asked in a calm and stern voice and then cringed when every head turned toward her, but she held her ground and just scanned all the faces standing there. Naomi didn't miss the smile on Effy's face. She had to do a double take, yup! That's a smile, and holy fuck! It reached her eyes!

"Hello Naomi." Effy had a gleam in her eyes, and she was seriously starting to get on Naomi's nerves. She went over and placed her arm through Naomi's and brought her closer to the small group. "I'm glad you're here, I want you to meet some people."

Naomi felt trapped, as usual when faced with meeting new people. God, she just wanted to go home, but she knew she couldn't do that just yet. With a defeated sigh, she let Effy start making introductions.

"This is Freddie McClair." She gestured to the tall, lanky, olive skinned boy and he smiled. "This is JJ Jones." The other boy with curly hair. Effy kept going around the circle, "This is Pandora Moon." Pandora bobbed her head, enthusiastically.

"You can call me Panda, everyone does." She smiled at Naomi and Naomi felt compelled to smile back.

"And this is Katie and Emily Fitch." Naomi got the strangest feeling in the pit of her stomach when she was presented to them.

She couldn't explain it, it was just there, so she pushed down the feeling and turned to look at the tall girl. "And who is this?" Naomi asked and Effy shrugged.

It was Panda who spoke up. "That's just Mandy." She rolled her eyes at the name, as Naomi glared at the outsider.

"Is there a problem here?"Naomi asked again, keeping her eyes on her.

"The only problem here is everybody sticking their fucking nose into my business." Mandy crossed her arms as she huffed out a breath. "I was trying to have a conversation with my girlfriend, when these fucking tossers showed up!" She sneered at Katie and the rest of them.

"For fucks sake, I am NOT your girlfriend!" Emily stated through gritted teeth. Naomi grinned at the girls' feistiness. "When are you going to get it through your thick skull?"

"Emily, I don't know why you keep fighting it. Even your mum knows it could be special between us." Mandy tried again to reach out to her, but once again someone was there to stop her.

Naomi grabbed Mandy's arm before she could reach out too far. "I believe she asked you not to touch her." Mandy sneered at her a wrenched her arm way. "I don't think it would be wise to start any trouble here." Naomi stated in a quiet, calm voice.

"I'll do whatever the fuck I like! And there's nothing you can do about it." Mandy spat at her, as Naomi went to stand in front of the sisters, along with Effy. "You should really mind your own business, bitch! Do you know who I am?"

Naomi smirked at her question, "I don't, actually. And right at this moment, I couldn't give two fucks!" She was getting angrier by the second.

"Naomi? You need to calm down." Effy said when she saw Naomi stiffen up. "We'll sort it, yeah?"

Naomi nodded, but took a step forward, into Mandy's personal space. "Do you know who I am?" She asked in the coldest voice she could, the one she used to use all the time and watched with glee as the other girl gulped and took a step back. "I'm Naomi _Campbell_." Naomi put emphasis on her surname and noticed as the girl became aware of who she had just angered.

Mandy shrank back visibly.

"You can pretty much fuck off now, yeah?" Katie told the dark headed girl.

Mandy started to leave, but turned back around to look at Emily, "This isn't over, Emsy!" With that, she went back into the ballroom.

Naomi glanced around as everyone stood there, with smiles and grins. "Sorry about that."

"Naw, don't worry about it. That bitch needed someone to put her in her place." Freddie said.

"Yeah, she has the worst habit of just showing up, no matter where we are." This came from Panda.

"Well, it was nice to meet you all. I hope you can enjoy the rest of the evening. I'll leave you to it." Naomi was going to head back inside, but a small hand on her arm stopped her. "Are you really Naomi Campbell?" It was one of the sisters, but at the moment, Naomi was having trouble remembering which one. There was something about the small girl that was scrambling the blondes' brains and the pulsing feeling was getting stronger. She could only nod at her. "I'm Emily. First of all, thanks for that."

"For what?" The girls' voice sent shivers down Naomi's spine. It was sexy to listen to. She looked past the mask, into her eyes. They were a soft brown and Naomi could see rings of green in them.

"For the whole 'Mandy Incident'. She's such a conceited cunt, it's actually unbelievable." Emily sneered at that last bit. "She always has a way of finding me wherever I am."

"Who is she?" Naomi asked.

"Her name is Mandy Bhatnagar."

"As in, Bhatnagar Industries?" Naomi asked and Emily nodded her head. "How the fuck did they get tickets for this event?" She asked more to herself, than the girl in front of her. She was more than a little bothered by the fact that one of the largest violators of more than five EPA laws was here tonight.

"I don't know how she got tickets, but I wish she hadn't of." Emily said quietly. "Anyway, the reason I came over was because I wanted to talk to you about your aspect of the business."

"My aspect? What do you mean?" Naomi asked with suspicion in her voice.

"Yeah, you head the software division, right?"

"How do you know that?" The blonde was starting to get just a little bit freaked out.

"I did a research paper in my last year of college about your company and I learned about it." Emily explained. "But I wasn't able to get a lot of information, so I'm curious about it."

"Why would you do your research on us? We're kinda boring." Naomi asked, surprised at the smaller girl. She had to have dug pretty deep for that info. Emily shook her head.

"Contrary to what you may think, I found it quiet interesting. I passed with an A, by the way." She said with a smirk.

As they talked, Effy and the others came over. "We're going back inside if you two would care to join us?" Effy asked.

"Sure, I need to go see mum anyway." Naomi told them, and then looked at Emily. "Will you all accompany me? I would love for you to meet my parents."

"Whizzer!" Panda practically shouted. Naomi shook her head, as she led the small group inside. They were kind of strange, but somehow, refreshing.

It had been awhile since she had met new people. She didn't go out to blow off steam like Effy and Cook did. Naomi preferred the quiet of home and didn't like for people to stare at her. But she didn't kid herself. She knew that if it wasn't for the mask she was wearing, this group of people wouldn't even talk to her.

Normally, that thought wouldn't have bothered her, but right at this moment it did and she couldn't say why. She pushed those feelings deep down, promising herself she'd come back to them later, as she looked around the room.

Naomi's eyes caught sight of her mum and stepdad and she led the rest of them over.

"Hello luv. Making friends, I see." Gina said with a smile.

"Yeah, you know me. Miss Popular." She replied, and Kieran chuckled at her sarcastic answer while Effy laughed. Naomi looked at them all, as she tried to figure out if she had somehow been transported into an alternate universe.

"Mum, Kieran, this is Freddie, Panda, JJ, Katie and Emily. Guys, these are my parents." Her parents were busy shaking hands with the group, when Gina got to the sisters she paused.

"Hello again, Emily." The older woman was warm and friendly. "I see you've met my daughter. She didn't bark at you, did she?" Naomi felt herself flush, but Emily just laughed it off.

"No, Mrs. MacFoeinaiugh. She's been nothing but pleasant." Emily stated and noticed the look of shock on the older woman's face. "I take it this is not a normal occurrence?" She asked, as she saw Naomi shuffle from foot to foot, Effy smile even more and Gina look at her husband as he shrugged.

"Let's just say, that Naomi doesn't always play well with others." Gina told her, and then turned her attention to Katie. "So, Katie? How are you enjoying the party?"

"It's been great." The girl started in about everyone she's talked to.

As the brunette talked, Gina had started to see the similarities in the two girls. Maybe Effy was right, and the two were twins. But how could she find out without being too obvious. As she thought about it, Cook bounded over toward them.

"Alright! All the geriatrics have left the building!" He was giddy with excitement, as he looked to Gina.

Naomi and Effy gave each other a look, but the rest of the group were clueless as to what was about to happen.

"Come on, we've been good all night."

Gina sighed as she looked at her three children. She smiled at Cook and nodded her head. She knew that this was for Naomi more than the other two. He jumped up and hooted as he ran down toward the bar that was on the other side of the room. He leaned over to talk to the bartender, and then they both went into another room.

Emily was standing there wondering what was going on, when Effy answered her unspoken question. "After the older guests leave, we break out the adult beverages." She explained as she inclined her head to where Cook and the bartender came back into the room with a few cases of vodka and tequila. "Gina makes us wait until then, so we don't embarrass her." She said with a grin.

"That is not true, Effy Stonem! You know very well that you lot embarrass me all the time." Gina said, with mock offence. She couldn't hold onto it for long, though and a smile broke out on her face.

"If you'll excuse me I need to use the restroom." Emily said to everyone and headed off. Naomi watched as the smaller girl made her was to the other side of the room.

It wasn't long until Cook came back with a tray loaded down with shots. As he got to the table, he finally noticed the extra people. "Sorry. I didn't see we had company." He said.

"This is Freddie, J-," Naomi was cut off, as Cook's eyes lit up.

"Freddie? From the other day?" Cook asked the taller guy.

"Yeah, that's me. Thanks for the tickets by the way." Freddie said as Cook thumped him on the back.

"Not a problem, mate! I see you got a date after all." Freddie blushed under his mask, as Cook laughed at him.

"So, who do we have here?" the shorter boy asked.

Freddie made the introductions and as he finished up, Emily came back to the table.

Cook was too busy checking out Emily to hear anything else from the taller boy. "I don't believe I caught your name babe?"

Emily screwed her face up in disgust at his blatant come on. "That's because I didn't throw it." She said as politely as possible, without offending him. Cook just threw his head back and howled.

"I like her! She's tip top!" he said enthusiastically.

Effy saw the look on his face. Even with the mask he wore, it was plain to see that he was excited by what he saw. "Settle down Cook, she doesn't play for your team." Effy told him.

Everyone watched his face fall at her announcement. "No!" He clutched his hands over his heart. "You ladies are killin' me, yeah?" Everyone at the table laughed at his playfulness, "Fuck it! LET'S GET MENTAL!"

The drinks came freely and regularly. So much so that two hours later almost everyone was either wasted or on their way to being wasted. No one noticed it when they had one extra person at the table. Effy had been busy talking with Panda, Katie and Emily while Naomi, Cook, Freddie and JJ were having a deep discussion about football.

"Emsy?" A voice cut across all the conversation. All heads turned to the newcomer, but it was Emily who groaned. Mandy had made her way over to their table.

"When are you gonna take the hint, and FUCK OFF?" Katie screamed at her. "Why can't you see that my sister doesn't want anything to do with you? Are you that fuckin' stupid?"

Mandy sat there, unaffected by Katie's shouting. She just looked at the small girl as if she was something on the bottom of her shoe. Freddie and Cook were keeping Katie away from Mandy, but they were drawing attention to the table.

Jenna, Rob, Gina and Kieran had all made their way over to the kids.

"And what might the problem be over here?" Gina asked, but nobody answered her.

Mandy was getting visibly upset that Emily wouldn't even talk to her.

"I'm stupid? That's rich coming from you, Katie!" Mandy stared at both sisters. "Out of the two of you, I don't know which one is the bigger slut!" She spat out, seemingly on a roll. "I mean, let's face it. Emily will shag just about anything in a skirt and you," Mandy sneered at Katie, "you'll fuck anyone with a cock!"

Jenna made a distressed sound as Mandy unleashed her temper on the girls. Rob tried to intervene. "Mandy! There's no need for this kind of behaviour."

"Really, Mr. Fitch? I think there is. You see, I had it on good authority that Emily would be overjoyed to date me, but I find out she's just a bitch." Mandy was clearly losing it as she continued to rage on, unleashing her temper on Jenna as well, and making Emily cry.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" A voice roared above them all.

Naomi was standing there shaking with her anger.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at the blonde who had commanded all the attention in the room. She was so furious that she didn't even care that they were all looking at her. "I'm only going to say this to you once. You have overstayed your welcome and I am telling you to leave."

Mandy was about to kick off again, but this time Cook signalled two security guards over. "Who are you here with?" he asked.

She knew she would not get another chance at the younger twin. She started to pout, but she answered him.

"My parents are here with me."

"Right then." Cook turned to the guards. "Find her parents and escort them out of the building." They both nodded at him and drug the tall girl from the table.

Emily was still in tears as her family gathered around her. Naomi and her family could only look on. The blonde was furious with Mandy for ruining their evening. She felt compelled to make sure the girl was leaving. Nobody saw her leave the table and she made her way to the entrance of the building. She got there just as Mandy and her parents did, and Mandy sneered at her.

Naomi just stood there and waited to see if she was going to do anything. She saw the look of pure hate in the other girl's eyes, but could find it in herself to care.

"You think you've done something nice for her, but you haven't." Naomi blinked in confusion as Mandy continued. "So you can try all you want, but Emily will never be with you."

The girl's words had venom in them, and if Naomi was any less of a person, if she had been the same girl as she was years ago, she would have felt the poison coursing through her veins. But she wasn't that same girl, she had been through too much shit and changed so many times, that to her they were just words. Naomi looked at the girls' parents and noticed that they didn't look the least bit ashamed of their daughter. This is what made her finally react.

"You should really put a leash on your pet when you're out in public, if you can't control her." She smirked at the family.

Mandy started to make a move when one of the guards caught hold of her.

"Ma'am, you really need to leave now." He said to her as she shrugged off his hand.

"Fuck off! I'm going." She followed her parents toward the door, but then looked back at Naomi with a quick glance past her. "Oh, by the way Campbell, if I can't have her, no one will."

With the Bhatnagars' outside the building, Naomi took a deep breath, to calm herself down. She still had a temper, that was something Sophia couldn't get rid of, but she was a lot better at controlling it. She just stood there for a few minutes before turning around. When she did, she thought maybe she'd had more to drink than she assumed, because she was seeing double.

As she stared at the two scared, unmasked girls standing before her, it finally sunk in.

Naomi's body started tingling all over, just like the night that Sophia cursed her, only worse. She wasn't sure her legs would hold her up any more, because now it felt as if that electrical current was pulsing harder through her body. She faintly heard shouting, but it didn't register in her brain as felt herself slipping into a blackout. She was, however aware of the arms that wrapped around her before she was unconscious.

The last thought going through her head, 'Holy Fuck! Twins!'

* * *

**And another one down! **

**Y'all still with me on this one? **

**Still liking it? Yes? No? Maybe? **

**Reviews are welcomed, appreciated and replied to when I can:) Questions? Concerns? Still hoping to see talking dishes and flying candelabras?**

**Should I have the character breakout into random songs? **

**Let me know:) **

**Love you all,**

**Soupy:-)**


	4. Chapter 3: The Curse

**A/N:** **Alright, Alright, Alright! Okay, I know I'm not Matthew McConaughey, but I was totally hearing his voice in my head as I was typing that! ;) hehehe!**

**Anyways...So I have felt the need to bring you the next exciting chapter in the thrilling saga of Naomily;) Although before I do that, I would like to give a huge massive shout out to ****TO YOUR SATISFACTION***, because she has one of the coolest stories on her, so if you haven't read "Wonderland", I'm seriously shocked and you should be ashamed of yourselves, and you should go read it now...before you read this...no really, you should, go read it. **

**I'll wait...Oh...You're back?...Great, now we can proceed!**

**Okay, as some of you know, I have been very very distracted this week, due to the fact that I did buy a new guitar and I also got a puppy...and well, those puppies don't train themselves, now do they? **

**Also, for anyone interested, I bought myself a Martin Little Martin LX1, a small, tiny but very effective guitar;) **

**But enough of that for now! On with the show! **

******And I do have to put an M warning on this chap due to some graphic descriptions, I mean, I don't think its bad, but some of you might, so please be warned.*** **

**All typos/grammatical errors are mine, maybe someday I'll write a song using only my typos/grammatical errors...hmm, something to think about;)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Skins, but I'd write it a love song if it asked nicely...**

* * *

**Chapter 3: The Curse **

**December, 2013**

Effy and Cook felt the spasms running through their bodies before Gina and Kieran did. They all remembered the last time they felt this, but this time it was stronger. It was more unpleasant than before. Gina looked around but couldn't see Naomi anywhere.

"Effy?" The brunette nodded and then she and Cook took off looking for the blonde at Gina's silent request.

"What do you think it was, Ef?" Cook asked as they searched room after room.

"I'm not sure, but it can't be good." Effy replied.

As they passed the entrance, they heard Katie and Emily shouting at Naomi. Cook was the first one through the door, with Effy close behind. Cook rushed over to the blonde as she lay on the floor with her head in Emily's lap as she was trying to untie the blondes' mask.

"What the fuck? What the hell did you do?" he glared at Emily, causing her to drop her hand. No one said anything and the tension hung in the air. In the silent room, Effy took in the scene before her. There in living color, sat Katie and Emily Fitch. Twin sisters. Beautiful twin sisters. Cook finally seemed to realize it too, as he kept staring the girls.

When Gina and Kieran came into the foyer, Gina let out a gasp as she saw Naomi passed out on the floor. The older woman looked between the sisters.

"What happened?" she asked, much calmer than Cook, but the tension was still there.

"Emily followed Naomi, so I followed her." Katie explained. "Mandy was being a bitch, and Naomi had, um, words with her." She gave a small smile.

"Did that cunt do this? I will kill her!" Cook stood up and clenched his fists.

"No, she was fine until she turned around. She must have had too much to drink, because next thing we know, her eyes rolled back in her head and she started to faint." Katie was tearing up a bit now. "Emily caught her before she could hurt herself."

"Did she say anything?" Effy asked, but both girls shook their heads. "Right then, Cook, would you please pick her up? We need to get her out of here." She said, taking control of the situation.

Cook looked at Emily as she maintained her hold on Naomi. "Red? I need to take her now. You have to let her go." Emily nodded her head.

"Ok. Is she going to be alright?" the small red head asked, quietly.

"Blondie's tough. She'll be tip top before you know it." He gave her a cheeky grin, but she could see the fear in his eyes. She let go of the blonde and Cook picked her up as if she weighed nothing. Kieran and Gina led them through the door, into one of the smaller rooms and shut the door, leaving Effy alone with Katie and Emily.

She watched as Katie helped Emily up from the floor. "Come on. Let's go back inside and wait to see what's going to happen." Effy ushered them back into the main room. Once they sat down, Freddie and JJ asked if everything was okay.

"Naomi passed out. She'll be fine." Effy said.

"Does that happen a lot?" Katie asked as she watched Effy take off her mask.

There was a round of gasps as she pulled it from her face. Freddie's and JJ's jaws dropped causing Emily to snort with laughter. When she actually looked at the brunette, Emily could see how beautiful she was. She had all the classic looks and of course she had a body that probably didn't know how to quit, but it was her eyes that pulled at you, as if she was trying to dig out your deepest secrets. But they were too mysterious...she was too mysterious, for Emily to fully appreciate.

Effy fought off the urge for a cigarette, taking another drink instead. "No. Naomi's not much of a drinker anymore." She signaled a waiter, ordered more drinks then turned back to the twins. "What did Mandy say to her?" Emily shifted uncomfortably in her chair as Katie looked down at the table. "Well?"

"Mandy's crazy, alright? She said if she couldn't have me, then no one would." Emily said. "She's a bit touched in the head I think."

"So, what is it about her that you didn't like?" dark blues eyes probed the red head.

"Well, for starters, she's a selfish bitch. She is cruel to people beneath her and she's conceited and vain." Emily explained, with disgust. "Let's not forget that her family's business destroys the environment, and she knows about it."

Effy smirked at the smaller girl. "Interesting."

* * *

Gina brushed her hand across Naomi's forehead. She was slick with a thin sheen of cold sweat. The older woman couldn't hold back her tears as she felt the welts that had become a permanent part of her daughter's body because of this damned curse.

"Did you see them, luv?" Kieran kneeled down beside his wife and daughter. "Effy was right."

"I saw them, Kieran, but I'm more concerned with our daughter right this moment." She snapped at him, and then felt guilty. "Sorry, luv. I'm just really worried. She's been out for half an hour."

"I know, but she's strong. She's breathing normally." He said, as Cook paced back and forth in front of them.

"I wish we could take her to the hospital." Cook said as he wiped his face with his hands. As he was about to say something else, Naomi's eyelids started to flutter open.

She shook her head and tried to stretch. "Owww. Why does it feel as if my whole body has been run over by a car?" She croaked out, her voice hoarse.

"Hold still, dear. You passed out, don't you remember?" Gina asked as her and Kieran helped her sit up.

Naomi frowned as she tried to think about what happened, but the only thing that came to her mind was the twins. "I remember Emily and Katie, and Mandy, but that's it." She glanced nervously between her mum and Kieran. "Why? What happened?"

Kieran looked at her as if searching for answers to unasked questions. "Well, we were hoping you'd be able to tell us." Naomi didn't know how to respond as her brows furrowed together. She was lost in her thoughts as the others waited.

"I went to make sure that the Bhatnagars' left. That Mandy chick was trying to kick off, but after they left, I turned around and I saw the Fitch sisters. Then… nothing." She held her head in her hands as she tried to remember more. "I felt like I had electricity running throughout my body. I remember that. When I turned around, and saw the girls." Naomi's eyes glazed over as she realised what she had seen. She looked up at Kieran. "Could it be?"

"I'm not for sure, dear, but I'm going to check it out." He said as Naomi hung her head again.

She noticed for the first time that her mask was lying on the floor, her gaze whipped back up to her mum and Cook.

"Please tell me they didn't see me?" She pleaded as tears filled her eyes.

Cook shook his head, "Lil' Red was gonna take it off, but I stopped her. I think I scared her, actually." He looked sheepishly between the two women. "I'd better go apologize." He headed toward the door, but turned back around. "I think one of those girls is the missing piece to the puzzle that has become our lives." He watched as Naomi nodded.

"You might be right, but what if everything Sophia said was just bullshit?" She asked her family and watched as Kieran shrugged and her mum just shake her head, sadly.

"No, you're right. We don't know that for sure. But it's worth a try, right?" He came to the couch and sat down next to her. "Come on, Nai. You know it's worth a try." He looked her in the eye and saw fear. Fear of being rejected, fear of being ridiculed and fear of living the rest of her life as a monster. "Remember Nai, if it's worth it, it's worth the risk." He watched, as a tear fell from her blue eyes, wiped it away for her and then left the room.

They followed him with their eyes as he shut the door. Naomi slumped back on the couch, still aching from what happened.

"He's right, you know." Her mum said softly. "I know you've had some setbacks in the past, but you've never really put yourself out there."

The younger blonde stared at her mum for a few minutes before sighing loudly. "I know that mum, but can you blame me?" She thought about the few times she had allowed herself to take part in a night out with Cook and Effy. They didn't end well at all and she had retreated deeper into herself and her work. "I know this is all my fault and I'm sorry, but I don't know if I can do it."

"Oh, bullocks, Naomi!" Kieran said as he paced around the room. "You need to put yourself out there. It's not even about the rest of us, so much. You're the one dealing with the worst part of this."

"It's as it should be!" Naomi snapped out.

"Put it away Naomi. Your anger won't get you anywhere with me." He looked at her and watched her deflate. He sighed as he sat next to her. "Alright, if you won't do it for yourself, do it for Cook and Effy. Do it for your mum, lass. But get off your stubborn arse and do it!" He got up quickly and strode out of the room.

"Ugh! That Irish bastard frustrates me sometimes!" She said out loud, throwing up her hands. "He always plays that card."

"That's because he's right and you know it." Gina didn't have to look at her daughter to know to that she was rolling her eyes. "The choice is yours luv, but the consequences will affect us all."

"I know that mum. I've spent the last four years knowing that, but actually facing the answer is harder than you may think. What if I get my hopes up, all of your hopes up and I fuck it up?" She didn't know how to say what she really wanted to say, but she figured her mum would know anyway. "Or what if it doesn't mean anything and nothing changes?"

"There's only one way to find out." Gina said as she too left the room, leaving Naomi to think about the situation and her past.

_After a night riddled with nightmares she couldn't control, Naomi woke up the day after Sophia had cursed her. She immediately felt two things._

_Wetness and pain. _

_It felt as if she was covered from head to toe in water. Which was crazy, because she didn't go anywhere except straight home. No place she would have gotten soaked to the bone at._

_She was dragging herself slowly awake, as the uncomfortableness of being wet wouldn't allow her to stay asleep, when the pain racked her whole body. _

_Naomi had never felt anything like it before. Stinging all over, everywhere...her hands, her arms, her face, her legs...every inch of skin felt as if it were on fire._

_The pain caused her to cry for the first time in years. She fought to open her eyes, yet when she did, they stung. She immediately closed them tight and wiped at them. _

_As she pulled her hands away, she cracked open her eyes just enough to make sure they wouldn't hurt, and stared down at her fingers, and then proceeded to look at the rest of her body._

_What she saw made her go cold. _

_Blood. Everywhere she looked, blood coated her body. The red liquid soaked into the duvet, the sheets and the bed underneath her. She felt sick to her stomach at the sight, but she fought down the revulsion that threatened to overwhelm her, as she gently pulled back the covers and tried to determine where the blood was coming from. _

_As the pain ripped throughout her entire body, she finally managed to pull back the duvet, and look at herself. Sure enough, the blood was all over her._

_Naomi couldn't comprehend what was going on, she didn't remember doing anything last night to cause this much bodily damage. Fuck, she wasn't even drunk the night before!_

_She started wiping away the blood from her arms, and that's when she noticed the cuts._

_Hundreds of little cuts, jagged cuts, neat cuts, some long and some, ever so tiny, marked her skin. There was no pattern to the lacerations, no rhyme or reason, they were just...there. Blood seeping from each one, slowly leaking her life's fluid from her body. _

_Suddenly, as if she had headphones on, she heard a voice loud and clear, in her head._

_"_Good morning!_" Came a cheery greeting, followed by a slight chuckle._

_Naomi looked around her, wincing at the pain she felt. "Who's there?" She demanded, her voice hoarse from crying. _

_She heard the laughter again, before the disembodied voice spoke again. _

_"_Oh, Naomi, Naomi, Naomi_." It was patronising, the voice floating through Naomi's head, it was as if it was talking to a small child, one that constantly did stupid things and needed to be looked after. "_You didn't think you'd get off that easy did you?_" Again, the laughter, almost airy and light, until it died out. _

_"Who are you?" Naomi shouted out, not recognising the voice. "What do you want?"_

_"_Really, Naomi? Do we have to go through this?_" The voice stated. "_I thought I made myself pretty clear last night, no?_"_

_Realisation dawned on the blonde, as her "talk" with Sophia came back to her full force. Her mind started racing, as Sophia's voice kept talking. _

_"What did you do to me?" Naomi asked, her own voice sounding small and weak, causing another round of giggles from Sophia, which only served to piss off the blonde. _

_"_Only because you asked so politely, I'll explain._" The voice stated. "_I did tell you that your beauty wouldn't help you, remember? I basically turned you into the monster on the outside that you are on the inside, Naomi._" _

_Naomi's insides froze at the words in her head. "What?" She breathed out, quietly, not quite believing what she'd heard. _

_"_For every cut on Ashley's body, every incision that was made because of you...every mark that she made on her beautiful skin is now on you._" Sophia paused and Naomi could hear the other girl sniffing back tears. "_Right down to her last written words to you, not that you ever deserved anything from her, but nevertheless, there you go._" She finished, glee and amusement evident in her voice._

_Naomi was floored by her explanation. "Wh...why?" _

_"_Do you seriously need to ask that?_" The voice scoffed at her. "_Sorry about the blood. I hope the sheets weren't too expensive._" Sophia chuckled at her words. "_Don't worry though, the bleeding won't last for long_."_

_It was quiet for a few moments inside Naomi's head as she thought about what she was going to do, and she thought that Sophia was done. The blonde was beginning to comprehend the other girl's words, selfishly feeling sorry for herself, when Sophia spoke again._

_"_Oh, and just so you know I'm not completely heartless, you won't be alone_."_

_Naomi jumped at the sound in her head, but then realisation dawned on her. Sophia's words from the night before came rushing back to her._

_"Leave my family alone!" She said, trying to be demanding._

_"_It's too late for heroics, Naomi_." Sophia snapped out. "_It's too late to pretend you care about anyone other than yourself, so now you all will deal with the fallout._"Sophia chuckled again, causing Naomi's skin to shiver at the sound, making each cut sting even more. "_You'll all be very, very close_."_

_"For how long?" Naomi asked, the sound of defeat evident in her own voice, as she tried to think of a solution. _

_"_Well, you're definitely getting more time than Ashley got, so because I'm feeling generous, you'll have a few years to find a Child of Gemini._" _

_"How the fuck am I supposed to do that?" Naomi growled at the voice in her head. "How will I know now when time is running out?" Questions were running through her head, ones that she wanted to ask, but she had a feeling that Sophia was almost done talking. _

_"_Oh, you'll know, Naomi. Once the last cut heals, your time and your life will be done._" Sophia stated. "_I mean, it's only fair, right? A life for a life? Why should you get to live when Ashley didn't? Yes, I think that's more than fair_." _

_Naomi was speechless. The ramifications of what Sophia told her were huge. If this was all true, if Naomi couldn't find someone to love her, a Child of Gemini to be exact, whatever the fuck that meant, she would die._

_"_Oh, I almost forget!_" Sophia said, almost excitedly. "_I just wanna let you know, that I'll be checking up on you from time to time, just to make sure you don't forget about me or Ashley, so don't think this'll be the last time you'll hear from me._" The cheerfulness was back in her voice. _

_Naomi had been sitting there for a long time after Sophia's last words, the whole time silently wiping the blood out of her eyes and off her face, not that it really mattered or helped, the blood kept up its slow trickle anyway. She could smell the coppery scent all around her, and it was making her nauseous, fuck she needed to get the loo. _

_The blonde swung her legs off the bed, flinching at the pain, but pushing through it to stand on her feet. She tried making her way into the en suite, but passed by the full length mirror hanging on the back of her door and looked at herself. Before Naomi slipped into blackness, she heard Sophia's peals of laughter echoing in her head._

_Gina and Kieran had told her that the scream she let out was loud enough to alert them on the other side of the house. Naomi had passed out after the shock of seeing herself and her parents got to her room as she descended into nothingness. _

_She remembered waking up to Gina calling out her name, tears streaming down her face and the look of horror on Kieran's. The older blonde wanted to have her taken to hospital, thinking that Naomi had done this to herself, but the girl had to assure her mother that she would never do anything like this. _

_Kieran had rushed into the en suite, grabbing every towel in the cupboard, bringing them back and started to clean the now sticky, dark crimson fluid off of Naomi's skin._

_Naomi had vomited more than once during the whole process, Gina couldn't stop crying and Kieran had to get more towels. By the time it was all said and done, Effy and Cook had shown up._

_Once Kieran and Cook got the blonde back into bed, complete with a new mattress from one of the guest rooms and covered in some plastic that Cook had found in one of the work sheds, she finally had to tell them all about her run in with Sophia, everything about Ashley, and what Sophia had told her earlier. _

_Gina was angry, they could tell. She had thought that Naomi had done this to herself still, and it took a lot of convincing on Naomi's part to make the older woman believe her. Kieran had helped with that actually and the blonde was never more grateful for him being there._

_As it turned out, Sophia was right about Naomi not being alone. It didn't take them long to figure out that they couldn't spend more than twelve hours apart the hard way._

_It had happened that first night. _

_Effy had stayed all day at the Campbell mansion, helping Gina take care of Naomi, who had spent most of the day in a fitful sleep, thanks to whatever pills Cook had given her. _

_Cook and Kieran spent most of the day making phone calls, trying to find someone who could help them, while Effy helped Gina with Naomi, keeping her body as clean possible, mindful of the cuts._

_Cook had to leave, to meet with his mother for some sort of function, and was gone the rest of the day, until about two a.m. in the morning._

_Gina and Kieran were rudely awakened by their security people, because Cook was at the front gate, unable to move and begging to be let in. He hadn't believed that part when Naomi explained everything, so he ended up pulling a fit bird and going to her place. _

_By midnight he started to feel electrical pulses throughout his body, much like the night before, but he ignored it. When the eleventh hour rolled around, as he was making his random shag scream out his name, the pulses started hurting, and he was unable to draw a deep breath. _

_Cook had told them the next day that he was barely able to get his pants on, when he collapsed. He was out for a few minutes and was brought around by the girl screaming, so he managed to get outside, get a taxi and make his way toward the mansion. But by the time he got to the gate, he couldn't stand, he was barely breathing and he collapsed again._

_Effy had tried once as well, a few weeks after that. She was spending the day with her brother and was supposed to go back to London with him for a few days, after being cooped up with them for almost a week, she needed to get away for a bit. The same thing happened to her, as she and Tony were headed out of Bristol. _

_She too ignored the pulsing in her body, choosing to go on with her plans, but halfway to London her breathing become practically non existing, her whole body racked by the electrical currents shooting through it, and had to beg Tony to turn around and take her to Naomi's. _

_Everyone learned their lesson after that, all of them knowing the consequences if they didn't follow Sophia's rules._

_And over the years, Sophia would pop into Naomi's head from time to time. Keeping tabs on her and letting the blonde know she was still around. _

_It took the first year for Naomi to come to terms with her fate and for them all to adjust to the new life that they were forced to live, it was a hard time in their lives, but they made it work._

_Naomi had started to notice Sophia's "timekeeper". _

_One by one, over the years, each cut had started to heal. It started out as a couple a day, then as each year progress, the healing process slowed down to a few every couple of days. Each healed cut leaving a welted scar, a reminder of her curse, her past and her fate. _

Naomi brought herself back to the present after taking her trip down memory lane, and the hard truth of the matter still remained, in front of her was her last opportunity of breaking this curse, of giving herself and her family the chance at a normal life again.

* * *

Emily sat at the table in a daze as everyone around her drank, laughed and had a good time. Her parents had left about an hour ago, making the girls promise to be safe and get home in one piece. Her mum had apologized about a million times for Mandy, but it's not like it was her mum's fault that the girl was a psycho.

But she was worried about the words that she heard Mandy tell Naomi.

'_If I can't have her, no one will_'.

Emily shuddered as those words kept circling around her head. She had never had to deal with anything like this before and she was more than a little bit scared. She was brought out of her head by Cook, as he sat down next to her, with a sheepish grin on his face.

"Alright?" he asked as he looked at her. She nodded. "I just wanted to say sorry for snapping at ya like that. I have a bad habit of barking loudly, when I shouldn't be."

"It's alright Cook. You saw her lying there, you reacted. I was sitting with her. It's sweet that you care about her. You two make a sweet couple." Emily was shocked to hear him howl out a laugh.

"Yer funny Red." He wiped at his eyes, as if he was brushing away tears.

"What?"

"Blondie and me ain't a "_Couple_"." He said, using his fingers to do air quotes. "She and Effy are like sisters to me."

"I thought you two were together. You seemed so close."

"We are close. We're all we've had for the last few years." Cook explained, remembering the good and bad times they've all had. "But I have never been her type, and even if I was, I still wouldn't get in there."

Cook and Effy both thought back to when they had first met Naomi.

_He was standing all alone outside of their school, because Cook didn't do friends. They always seemed to hurt you. So he decided that this year, he wasn't going to worry about anyone but himself. That was until he came across a bunch of older boys picking on a girl. She looked so tiny, like she could blow away if the wind kicked up. She didn't say anything to the boys, not one word, as they made fun of her clothes and the way she didn't say a word. _

_But her eyes spoke volumes, as Cook tried to look into them. He found it too hard, so he looked at the rest of her instead. She had dark brown hair that fell way past her shoulders. He was making his way over to them when he saw another girl rush over. _

_This one was a bit taller, with blonde hair, so blonde it was almost white. And her eyes were blue too, but they were different, a clearer blue. She tried to push one of the bigger boys away from the smaller girl, but he didn't budge. That's when Cook finally made his feet move over to them._

"_Hey. What's going on?" He asked with his trademark grin, as he scanned the group of boys. They weren't much bigger than him, so he felt confident that he'd be able to take them on. _

"_Don't tell me you guys ain't got anything better to do than pick on a couple a girls?" Cook stared down the biggest boy and knew right away that he was the ringleader. He cast a sideways glance at the two girls and made up his mind. He didn't wait for an answer, because he was pretty sure these arseholes didn't know how to think, so he pulled back his head and let it crash into the head of the bully. _

_They all heard a sickening crunch and watched horrified as blood poured out of his nose, but the kid went down._

_Cook and the two girls laughed as the rest of the boys hightailed it out of there, leaving the kid to bleed on his own. Cook turned his back on the spectacle in front of him and smiled at the girls. "I'm Cook."_

"_Hello Cook, I'm Naomi and this is ….," the blonde girl trailed off, because she didn't know the other girls name._

_Cook and Naomi looked at her, waiting for her to tell them. They waited a while, and thought for sure the girl would just stay silent forever, but her eyes focused on them and she smiled._

"_Effy." Was all she said, but it was enough for Cook._

"_Alright then. Should we go to class or what?" he asked and sighed when he saw both girls nod their head._

_It was that day that Cook finally got the family he'd been missing. His mum was an artist and never spent any time at home and his dad had buggered off when Cook was about four. He was alone and lonely, but he hadn't wanted anyone to know that, but Naomi and Effy had a way of digging the truth outta you. They took the time to peel back the layers that made up Cook and see who he truly was. _

_They took the time to find the real James Cook, and that meant more to him than anything else in the world._

* * *

_Effy came from the same background as Cook. Parents who didn't know how to be parents, so they threw money at their kids and hoped for the best. It was what worked for her, until that day at school when she met Cook and Naomi. She knew that her and Cook were kindred spirits, but Naomi was different._

_She had parents that cared about her. They made sure that she was home each night for dinner, and that she did well in school._

_Effy felt safer standing on the outside, always looking in. If you didn't interact with people, then they couldn't hurt you. Effy spent a whole year not saying a word to anyone, not even her brother. It was just so much easier than having to be what they want you to be._

_She watched as everyone in life became a joke. Her mum and dad pretended to be a happy couple, but Effy knew that was a lie. Her mum had been sleeping with her dad's boss for almost a year, and her dad was a useless wanker, who didn't even take notice of his children. But if she didn't talk to them, they couldn't disappoint her. She was good at keeping her feelings to herself, because if you let people know you have feelings, they use them to hurt you._

_But, Naomi didn't allow you to sit on the outside, when you could be right in the middle of everything, doing something. She was addicting, the blonde headed girl that jumped into her life. That's how it felt to Effy. Naomi was a drug, that neither she nor Cook could get enough of. _

_It wasn't until they turned about fourteen that Effy noticed a change in her friend. By the time Naomi was twelve her father had taken off, for parts unknown and the first wall of many had been built up. She didn't show it to anyone, but Naomi had a crack in her heart from the loss of her dad. She became a little bit more sarcastic and moody, but at that age, it was chalked up to hormones._

_When Naomi was thirteen, she seemed to be back to her old self. Light hearted and fun to be around, but she didn't spend as much time with Cook and Effy as she used to. She never went out with them after school very much anymore. Naomi would even cancel out on the weekends, when it was supposed to be time just for the three of them. Cook and Effy never knew where she went. It wasn't until after the curse that Naomi finally told them about Chelsea. The girl that became Naomi's greatest secret and greatest pain, causing the blonde to throw up the rest of the walls around her heart._

_By the time they were fifteen, Naomi had turned into a full on bitch. She didn't care about anything outside of her little bubble that contained her, Effy and Cook. She traveled a road that was full of cruelty and pain, which she made sure to inflict on other people, so they wouldn't have a chance to do it to her. To say that Effy and Cook were concerned was an understatement. They watched as their rock crumbled right in front of them. They both waited for the old Naomi to come back, but they would find out that they would have to wait a long time._

Effy and Cook were both lost in their own thoughts, when Gina came out to the table were they all sat.

"Well?" Effy asked the older woman.

"She's fine, awake and grumbling." Gina said.

"Thank fuck for that!" Cook grinned at that, even though he knew that Naomi was more than fine.

"Maybe we should get going. It is getting rather late." Emily was looking around the table at her friends, and got nods all the way around. She was about to stand up, but Effy placed a hand on her arm.

"Do you have to?"Effy asked, almost desperate to keep the sisters there just a little bit longer.

"Yeah. I'm glad that Naomi's going to be okay." She stood up, with everyone following her.

Effy sat there not knowing what to do, as Cook, Gina and Kieran all started to say good night to the small group. She watched as Katie came around to say goodbye, when an idea popped in her head. "Katie? What are you guys doing on Friday?" the brunette asked. Katie screwed up her face as she thought about her answer.

"Nothing. Why?"

"Well, were having a little get together at the house and I'd like to invite you all." Effy smiled at the smaller girl.

Katie was hypnotized by her face, the way her smile reached her eyes. Katie found herself agreeing without checking with the others. "Yeah, sure. That'd be great."

As everyone headed toward the foyer, a door opened off to the side, and Naomi stepped out. She caught Emily's eyes and froze where she stood. She glanced at Effy, who stood with Katie and she watched as everyone looked at her.

Naomi saw that everyone had taken off their masks and now she felt overwhelmed. She felt her breath start to hitch and sweat break out all over. She knew if she didn't do something, she would go into a full on panic attack, so she stared at Emily because the she was closest to her.

Emily watched as the blonde took a few deep breaths and got herself under control. She fought the urge to smile, because she didn't want Naomi to think she was laughing at her. "I'm glad to see you're okay. I was worried about you."

Naomi blinked in surprise. "You were?"

Now Emily did laugh, because the sound of her voice was doubtful and questioning. "Well, yeah. You braved Mandy, not once, but twice and then I watched you pass out in front of me." She explained as Naomi ducked her head. It didn't escape Emily's attention that she still wore her mask, when everyone else had long since removed theirs, but Emily had seen something when she held on to the passed out girl. And she wasn't about to bring it up. The taller girl obviously had some secrets she wanted to keep. "You scared me a bit."

"Oh, sorry. I don't really know what happened back there." Naomi looked around and saw that everyone in her group was getting ready to go. "Are you guys leaving?"

"It's getting late, and I have to be up in the morning for work." Emily told her as she screwed up her face. "I work at one of my dad's gyms."

"Sounds fun." Emily laughed at her dry response.

"Yeah, well, I chose to take a year off before going to Uni, so Dad says I need to work." Emily explained.

Naomi couldn't help feeling disappointed that she was leaving. "It was very nice to meet you."

"Same here. I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to talk more." Freddie came over with Emily's coat, causing Emily to hold back whatever she might have said next.

"Emsy, the car is here." He said as he held out her coat to help her put it on. "Sorry Naomi, I gotta get these girls home or else their mom will have my head." He laughed as Emily slipped into her coat.

"I understand." Naomi said as she reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a business card. "Here. If you have any more questions." She explained as she handed the card to Emily.

"Okay. Thanks Naomi." Emily said with a smirk and then Freddie led her and the rest of them out the door, leaving Naomi standing there with her family.

They returned back to their table and once they had sat down, Naomi turned toward Effy. "You knew, didn't you?"

"I had a suspicion." Effy confirmed.

"So, exactly what do you know?" Kieran asked.

"Like I said, I did a quick background check on Rob and Jenna Fitch. They have three children. Katie and Emily, being the oldest, twins obviously and James."

"Why are you so sure that it's one of the girls? It could be the boy." Cook asked with doubt in his voice, but Effy sat there shaking her head.

"No, it's definitely one of the girls."

Gina could see that Kieran, Cook and Effy were getting all worked up. "What makes you so sure, Effy?" she asked, instantly calming everyone down.

"Well, let's not overlook the fact that they're twins." Naomi scoffed at Effy, but the brunette let it pass. "Also, they were born under the Gemini sign." Effy stated proudly.

"What?" Kieran asked. He was starting to believe now, but he still needed to be sure.

"Yup. They were born on June twenty first, 1994."

"The Summer Solstice. I think you could be right, Effy, but it's a long shot." He said as he wondered who he could ask about it. "It still doesn't change the fact that none of my associates know anything about the Children of Gemini."

"Maybe we've been looking in the wrong places?" Naomi spoke up after doing some thinking about it. "Maybe it has nothing to do with Greek mythology at all. We've spent the last four years harassing every Greek mythologist all over the world and have come up with nothing."

"So what do you suggest?" Kieran started to fidget with his beer bottle.

"What I suggest is we look down a different road. Something a little bit closer to home." Naomi stated as every eye turned to her. "England has some pretty deep roots in witchcraft, as I'm sure you all know, so we look there."

Gina shook her head at this. "I don't know Naomi. If what you say is true, we've already wasted so much time searching the wrong thing." She couldn't help but be afraid now. "This isn't the time to be chasing after guesses. Your time is running out, luv."

"I know that mum, but like you said earlier, there's only one way to find out."

"Your mum's right, Naomi. It might not be beneficial at this point in time." Kieran said quietly.

Naomi knew what she had to do. As she made up her mind, she pushed away from the table. "Look, we need to try. We all know what's going to happen, Sophia's made that crystal clear." She said a bit tiredly. "Since I'm the only one who will be majorly affected if this doesn't work, I think we should give it a go."

The rest of the table could only sit there and agree with her. "I'm gonna head home. I have had quite a night." Naomi told them as she left the table, not waiting for any answer.

After grabbing her coat and walking to the car park, she thought about all that had happened during the evening. She knew that she should just spend the rest of the time she had left making sure she left her mark in the field she chose to pursue, but something else had happened tonight, something that none of the others knew about.

When she looked into Emily Fitch's eyes, she felt her walls crumble.

* * *

**OOOOHHHH, don't you all just love Sophia? (And I was totally being sarcastic there)**

**Another fun filled trip into Naomilyland! Thank you for spending your time here:) Review? suggests? comments? Please drop me a line into the suggestion box, conveniently located below, and have a nice day! **

**You know I love every review you guys send me and I try like hell to answer them all, so if you guys have accounts, please log in so I can reply to you...you know who you are...If you don't have an account on here, but are on Twitter, you can check me out there as well:) **

**alexberkley: your suggestion has been noted and I'm totally gonna rock that shit in a couple of chapters;) HAHAHAHAHA!**

**Thanks guys,**

**Soupy:-)**


	5. Chapter 4: The Plan

**A/N:**** I seem to be on a roll this week, and I'm feeling really generous, because I love you all, like, a lot! HEHEHE!**

**I wanna thank everyone who has added this to their Alerts/Faves. **

**Any typos/grammatical errors are mine:)**

**Disclaimer: In a perfect world, I own Skins...but since we all know that this is _NOT_ a perfect world, so sadly, no I do not own Skins.**

* * *

**Chapter 4: The Plan**

Emily spent the morning going over employee schedules. It was boring work, but she was able to get it done in as little time as possible. She didn't mind working at her dads gyms, she had always enjoyed the physicality of the job. Fitch Fitness started out as one gym, when the girls were little, but her mum and dad had built it up over the years, so that now there were over a hundred locations in the UK and Ireland. Her parents were in the works to expand in France by next year.

While that was great for the family, it meant that her parents were traveling a lot. Which meant that Emily was left in charge more often. Once all the schedules were complete and the few phone calls she had to place out of the way, Emily thought about the charity ball. She found herself thinking back to that night quite a bit since last Saturday.

Actually, she had been doing that a lot in the past couple of days. Thinking back to that night. Or more importantly, thinking about someone from that night, well two people, actually. So she took the easy route and picked one of them, because she was the easiest to deal with.

Mandy. Selfish, arrogant, conceited Mandy. What she said that night really freaked Emily out. She wasn't above admitting that she was a little bit scared. So much so, that she had an appointment at the local Citizen's Advice Bureau to see what could be done. Her mum insisted that she contact them, so in about thirty minutes that's where she would be.

Emily left the office and went down to the reception area, where Panda was manning the front counter.

"Morning, Pandapops."

"Oh, hey Emsy. How's it going?" The other girl asked.

"It's been a good morning. I finished up the schedules for the month."

"You're so full of adventure." Panda said with a grin, making Emily laugh.

"I know, right?" Emily said as she came around the counter. "Listen, I have an appointment on the other side of the city, so can you hold down the fort for me?"

Emily left Panda to watch the gym as she made her way across town to the CAB. After spending an hour inside, she walked out with nothing more than a number for a solicitor. It felt like a huge waste of time, because she could have gone to their family solicitor for that. Emily looked back at the building.

"Thanks for nothing!" She muttered to herself as she headed to the bus stop. What a waste of the day!

"You know they say that talking to yourself is the first sign of going crazy." Emily jumped as the voice floated from behind her. She turned around with her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming out. She came face to face with Effy Stonem.

"I'm sorry, didn't mean to freak you out." Effy said with a small smirk.

"Holy shit, you're like a ninja!" Emily said as she started to calm down. "What are you doing here? Are you stalking me?" She actually felt a little bit afraid as she asked.

"No, even if you are a bit stalkable. I was at the coffee shop over there," Effy pointed to the cafe on the corner, "when I saw you walking out." She reached into her shirt for the pack of cigarettes she kept there. "Thought I'd come over and say hello." she explained as she took one of the fags and placed it between her lips, and then lit it.

Emily sighed with relief at Effy's excuse. "Sorry. This whole thing with Mandy has me a bit jumpy." She ran her hand through her hair, trying to getting rid of the nerves the brunette had produced in her.

Effy watched her collect herself, feeling contrite for scaring her. "I apologise again Emily. What are you doing right now?"

The red head looked confused by the question. "I was gonna head back to the gym. I left Panda in charge."

"Why don't I treat you to lunch?"

"Okay. Where to?" Emily asked as Effy led her to the car that was back by the cafe.

"Do you like Chinese? I know this great little place and I was headed there anyway to get something for Campbell." Effy got in the car at the same time that Emily did.

"Yeah, that sounds great. Just let me text Panda and let her know." She said pulling her mobile out of her purse and punching out a quick text. "So, Effy? You came all the way into town for a coffee?"

Effy smirked at her question, but kept her eyes on the road. She thought about the real reason she was in town and not at home. "I needed a break and felt like some coffee." She said with a shrug. "Sometimes Naomi gets intense and it can be a bit much."

"I get it, she's a slave driver."

"No, it's not that." Effy said as she thought of a way to describe her friend without putting off the red head. "She's passionate about things that matter to her, so much so, that she can lose sight of things around her."

"I see. So what is she getting overly passionate about?" She asked as they pulled into the car park for the restaurant. "Some big new piece of software?"

The two girls walked into the building and were shown to a booth near the back. After ordering drinks and getting a couple of menus, Effy answered her.

"No. Naomi's having us research a project." The brunette said, as the waiter came back for their orders. Once the young man left them alone again, Emily smiled at Effy.

"What kind of project? What kind of research?"

"I can't really say at this time." Effy told her as she took a drink. "All I can say is we are definitely not professional researchers." She said with a chuckle and Emily smiled at her.

"You need to hire someone who can do the research for you." Emily said with a shrug. "I mean if you guys are busy with other work, it would be beneficial to have one or more people committed to doing the grunt work for you."

Effy stared at her as if she had just come up with the answer for world hunger. "You're so right! Why didn't we think of that?" She asked herself, as Emily giggled at her. "That would really help us out. But where would we even find anyone like that?"

"You could probably hire someone through a temp agency. Or maybe a couple of employees at the company." Emily suggested.

They talked about it for a few more minutes, and then switched to other topics. After they had finished eating, Effy reminded her about the party on Friday as they walked out. Emily was confused about that. She didn't know about any party, but she confirmed that, yes, her and her friends were looking forward to it, and then they went their separate ways.

* * *

Cook stood in the middle of the office with a look of pure frustration on his face. He had been stuck in this room for days it seemed liked. He had gone through thousands of pages and old books, yet he still couldn't find anything to do with the fucking Children of Gemini. He felt as if his head would literally explode if he didn't get out of the house soon.

He scrubbed his hands over his face, trying to clear his head. He thought that Naomi was on the right track when she suggested this new avenue, but now he wasn't so sure. To be honest, he didn't think he had it in him to do this sort of shit. Research! He knew nothing about it. He wasn't organized enough to do it.

Naomi had put them all to work looking through this stuff, but him and Effy really couldn't get their heads around it. It was just too much for him.

"This is bullshit!" He yelled out loud, just as Naomi walked into the room. She merely raised an eyebrow at him and he ducked his head, embarrassed that he got caught losing his temper. "Sorry, Naomi."

She felt for him, she really did. This kind of stuff wasn't easy for him. She sighed. "Why don't you take off for the rest of the day, Cook?" She sat down at her desk as he stared at her. "I know you wanna get out of here. Go ahead and go."

"Naw, I can't leave until Effy gets back." He shook his head at her.

"Cook, I mean it. Go ahead and go. Effy should be back soon, so I'm pretty sure I can handle it." She told him. "Besides, you're driving me a bit crazy because you're doing that whole muttering under your breath thing that you do."

He looked indignant at her statement, but then he grinned because she was probably right about it. "You're a real ball breaker, ya know that? Fine, I'll go, but don't forget you have a four o'clock appointment at the office with yer mum and Kieran."

She waved him off, knowing full well about the meeting. She sat at her desk and started reading through more census reports from the eighteen hundreds. It was as far back as she could go, seeing how they didn't start keeping records until 1801. Not that it mattered she still wasn't finding anything useful.

She was in the middle of a very riveting census report from 1821 when Effy strolled into the room looking like the cat that ate the canary. Naomi couldn't help but stare at her friend for the thousandth time since last Saturday.

"And what's put that smile on your face?" The blonde asked, still a little put off by the fact that the brunette even knew how to smile.

"We are having a party." Effy stated as she placed the bag from the restaurant on the other girl's desk. No emotion whatsoever in her voice, but smile still in place. _'How does she do that?_' Naomi thought to herself, and then it clicked in her brain what Effy had just said.

"What do you mean, we're having a party?"

"Friday. I invited the Fitches and their friends."

"And where is this party taking place?" Naomi started to feel her anger rise.

Effy just looked at her as if she were a child that needed to have everything explained to her. "Right here of course."

"What!" Naomi was standing now as she came around the desk to stand toe to toe with the brunette. "Don't you think that's something you might have wanted to talk to me about?"

Effy shrugged her shoulder and said nonchalantly, "I'm talking to you now."

"This isn't funny Effy. You know we can't have people here, especially them!" Naomi was really panicking now, but Effy threw her arms around the blonde, trying to calm her down.

"Listen, I know you're scared, but you've let people see you before. Besides, I thought you got on really well with them?"

"I did. It was nice to have someone else to talk to for a change, but they don't know about me. The real me." Naomi said with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"What would you say if I told you there was a way for the twins to get to know you?"

"What do you mean?" She asked suspiciously.

"Well, I just happened to run into Emily Fitch today and treated her to lunch. I was telling her a little bit about what we've been doing, and about how we're cocking it up."

"Effy! Why would you tell her?" Naomi couldn't help but shout at her friend. She was getting nervous and she didn't know how to control it.

"Calm down. I didn't tell her everything, just that we've been having a hard time with all this shit." Effy explained, waving her hand at the piles of paper on Naomi's desk. "She suggests that we hire a researcher. You know, someone who does this better than me and Cook."

"Okay, what does that have to do with the Fitches?" Naomi asked, still not understanding Effy's damn logic.

The brunette merely smirked and let it hang in the air for a minute, toying with the blonde because it was always fun to wind up her friend. "I stopped by the office one the way home and did a little bit more checking on those two."

"And?" Naomi asked with irritation clearly in her voice. She hated this side of Effy. The mysterious, closed off girl that she used to be when they were younger.

"It just so happens that both of them worked for the local paper when they were in college." Effy told her proudly, but Naomi being Naomi, didn't quite grasp what she was getting at and stood there with a stupid look on her face. "In the research department!"

So that's how Emily had found out about Naomi's involvement with the business. It seemed a little too convenient to Naomi, but Effy had a point. She did need help going through all this stuff, and if one of the Fitch girls could break the curse, what harm could it do?

Life wasn't that easy for Naomi, and she knew it. It would be hard to make a connection to the girls, but she knew she had to try. But Effy was right, she was scared. Naomi was terrified, because for the first time in a long time, she felt something for someone.

Not for the first time since Saturday, she found herself thinking about Emily Fitch. At the oddest times, the small red head would make her way into Naomi's thoughts. She knew she liked the other girl because she was intelligent and very easy to talk to. Naomi had enjoyed spending time with her and her friends, but the blonde knew that if it hadn't of been for the fact that she was covered from head to toe, none of them would have looked twice at her. She didn't think she could stand it if Emily rejected her, but she didn't think she had it in her after all this time, to make any impression on anyone.

The blonde sat back down at her desk, as Effy sat in the chair in front of it. "I don't know, Ef. It's not like I'm an easy person to know these days."

Effy didn't say anything right away. She knew the blonde was speaking the truth, it wasn't a secret after all, but she also knew her friend. Naomi wanted someone to care about her and she wanted to care for someone. In a small, teeny tiny corner of her mind, Effy was glad that Sophia had cursed her friend. Only for the fact that it almost brought the real Naomi back to them. For years, it had just been the five of them. Effy was so ready for Naomi to accept anybody else into her life.

"Well, here's your chance then. All you have to do is, be brave." Effy told her, as if it was the most logical thing in the world.

Effy let the statement hang in the air and didn't respond to the blonde's glare. Naomi knew it was no use trying to get anything more out of her friend, so she returned her thoughts back to the exciting census report.

* * *

Emily walked into the home she shared with her family after finishing her day up at the gym. She knew that James and Katie would be home, but her parents had gone to France this morning so it would just be the three of them.

After her lunch with Effy, she seemed to have more questions about Naomi Campbell. Emily had found out, through her research on the Campbell Corp., that a few years ago, Naomi had been involved in an accident. It was never disclosed the full damages of the accident, but it made the blonde a bit of a recluse. As Emily entered the family room, she heard Katie yelling at their brother.

James was a bit of a freak at times, but being only fourteen, it was practically a given.

"I swear to God, James, if I catch you spying on me one more time, I will kick you in the balls so hard, you'll have to yawn just to be able to scratch them!" Katie had always been inventive with words the angrier she got, Emily mused. She snickered at her siblings as she went through the mail that was sitting on the table. She heard James run into his room and slam the door and Katie stomp down the stairs.

"When did you get home?" Katie asked as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

"I just walked through the door. How long have you been home?" Katie shrugged her shoulders at the question.

"Not long. James was prancing around in one of my skirts again. Ugh! He's such a mong!"

"He's expressing his softer side." Emily commented with a chuckle. "Just like you express your bitchy side."

"I'll show you my bitchy side by beating his softer side!" Katie huffed as she picked up a magazine from the coffee table, causing Emily to laugh out loud.

"Aw, Katie, you know you love him, dress and all."

Katie couldn't keep her lips from turning into a smile. The two girls sat in silence for a few minutes, before Emily remembered about what Effy said.

"Oh, by the way, are we doing anything on Friday?" She asked, and then watched as her sister turned red.

"Well, Effy may have invited us to a small get together on Friday." Katie replied, sheepishly. "I told her we would go."

"Us, as in you and me?"

"All of us. Freds, Panda and JJ too." Katie told her as a thought came to her. "How did you find out about it?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Emily countered and shot her a look of curiosity.

"I don't know, I just figured you didn't care for them. You seemed kinda distant that night."

"So you were planning to go without me?" Emily was disturbed by that fact. "Really, Katie?"

"No!" Katie was quick to reply. Emily knew she was up to something, but she couldn't place it.

"What's going on Katie?" Emily demanded. "What are you hiding?"

Katie was starting to regret her decision to not tell Emily about the party, but she had a good reason. Or so she thought. The older twin knew she was going to have to tell Emily about what had happened.

Emily was hanging on to her temper by a very thin thread. It was just like Katie to not tell her things, but she honestly couldn't fathom why Katie kept this from her.

"Katie, I'm waiting." The younger twin was now pacing the room in agitation. Katie hung her head and sighed.

"Alright! Fine!" The older twin sat down and folded her hands in her lap. "I was going to tell you Em, I really was, but when Panda and I were talking about it the other day at lunch, Mandy was there and heard us talking."

"So? What does that have to do with going to the Campbell House?"

"She cornered me in the toilets and told me to tell you that she meant what she said." Emily had never seen her sister so uncomfortable. "So, I was going to cancel with Effy."

"Why would you cancel?"

"Emily, do you think we need that freak following us everywhere you go? That's what she's doing." Katie's lisp was more pronounced than usual, which alerted Emily to how scared her sister was for her.

"Kay, I can't stay cooped up in the house because Mandy can't take a hint and fuck off." Emily sat back down and sighed before addressing Katie again. "I won't hide from this. Fitches don't hide from their problems, we face them head on, yeah?"

Katie hated to admit it, even to herself, that she was scared for her sister. It showed her biggest weakness, her sister. She had always taken the role of 'Big Sister' seriously, sometimes a little too much, but since Emily had come out, Katie figured she had backed off quite a lot. It didn't stop her from wanting to protect Emily.

"You're right. My head knows it, but my heart is screaming at me to lock you up, so she can't hurt you." The older twin stated.

"Look Kay, I'm going to see Doug tomorrow, so don't worry, okay? But I did tell Effy that we'd all be there, so we'll be there." Emily's mind was made up, because she knew she had to see Naomi again.

* * *

It took Effy the rest of the afternoon to convince Naomi into hiring the Fitch twins as her research assistants, or at least talk to them about the opportunity. The blonde finally agreed because she really did need the help, but she knew that once the girls saw what a monster she was, neither one of them would want anything to do with her.

As Naomi sat in her mother's office and discussed the future of Campbell Corporation, a plan for a party was slowly taking shape in her head.

* * *

**Well? Comments? Thoughts? Suggestions? **

**Reviews are welcome, they really do push me to write this, so...let me know your thoughts:-)**

**Marsupial**


	6. Chapter 5: Before the Party

**A/N:**** Hello you beautiful, lovely peeps, you! How is everyone? Good? Great? So-so? Well that's good to hear! **

**I wanna take a moment to apologize for the delay in posting this and the next chapter of RTW, but I've been sick and it felt like a constant hangover for two weeks! UGH! **

**But I'm feeling much better, and I felt like giving you all this little nugget;)**

**Any typos/grammatical errors are mine.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Skins, which is a low down shame:( **

* * *

**Chapter 5- The Party**

**December 2013**

Effy had confirmed again with both Emily and Katie about Friday night. She was apprehensive, to say the least, about it. Which was a strange feeling for the mysterious girl to be feeling. She had always been sure of herself, even when she was younger, but there was something in the air that she couldn't put her finger on.

She thought about Naomi. Effy knew that this was harder for her to handle than anything else that had ever come their way. It had taken a lot of talking on Effy's part to allay her friend's fears, but the blonde started to come around to the idea.

Effy was just bringing herself to get out of bed when she heard a knock on her door. She knew before she answered, who it was.

"Good morning Cook." She opened the door with a smirk. "Late night last night?"

Cook had a grin in place as he walked into Effy's room and sat down on the sofa. "It was a tip top night, Efs. I meet this top shelf bird, and she could do the most wonderful things with her tongue."

Effy scrunched up her nose, making Cook howl with laughter. "You can leave out the details, yeah?" She gave him a hard look as he continued laughing.

"Sorry, sorry. I'll keep my thoughts to myself." He said as he sat up straighter and wiped the smile from his face. "We need to talk, though."

"Yeah? What about?" Effy made her way over and sat down next to Cook. "What did you do?"

"Hey, I didn't do nothin'!" He declared as he held his hands up. "But that Mandy girl was at the club last night."

Effy didn't say anything, but her mind was working overtime to process the new information. Cook watched to see if she was going to react. When she didn't he went on. "She was holdin' court with a buncha slaggy lookin' girls just bitching about the ball."

"Did she mention Naomi?" Effy asked with a tremor of emotion in her voice. She watched as Cook nodded his head.

"She mainly talked about how Little Red would soon be crawling to her on her knees." He stated.

"What did she say about Naomi?" The brunette was starting to think that Mandy could be a serious threat not to Emily, but to Naomi as well.

"Just bitched to anyone who would listen that Naomi's a cunt. Nothin' too extreme, but she worries me. If one of the twins is our curse breaker, they'll need protection."

Effy nodded in agreement. "I'm working on that, but it's gonna take Naomi to pull it off. That's why I'm counting on this party to do it."

Cook looked as if he was in deep thought. "What if neither one of them like her?"

Effy smiled her mysterious "I know something that you don't" smile. "I wouldn't worry about that."

"What do have up your sleeve, little girl?" Cook asked, eyeing her up.

"I have nothing up my sleeve. I really don't think I'll have to do anything at all when it comes to Naomi and the Fitch twins, or should I say Fitch twin." Effy said with a gleam in her eye and a smirk on her face.

The way Effy's mind worked never failed to amaze Cook. "I am so glad you're on our side, Effy. In another life, you'd use your skills for evil."

"What makes you think I'm on your side?" She snickered at her friend. Once again, Cook threw his head back and let out a bark of laughter. "We need to sit down with Naomi and talk to her about this. We could use this to our advantage."

Cook wiped tears from his eyes as Effy spoke. "How so?" He asked, curious.

"If Mandy is a threat to Emily, we could offer her a place to lay low for awhile. God knows enough hiding gets down around here."

"Too true. Well let's go." He said as he stood up and waited for Effy to follow.

Naomi was sitting out on her balcony, oblivious to the cold. She was deep in thought and inhaling her third fag. She couldn't get her thoughts organized and it was really doing her in. The party that Effy had planned without her knowledge was happening tomorrow night. That meant she had to strip herself bare for probably the first time since this whole fucked up situation started. 'Fuckin' Effy!' She thought to herself. 'What was she thinking?' Naomi scoffed at herself for that thought. Effy always has a plan. Her friend had always been this way and it seemed as if nothing was ever going to change.

She took a last drag of her smoke and put it out, when she heard Effy and Cook come into her room. "Out here!" She called to them.

"Mornin' Blondie, it's a beautiful day, yeah?" Cook grinned at her.

"What are you doing out here?" Effy asked with concern.

Naomi looked at her best friends, and not for the first time felt very guilty. It wouldn't be the last time either, but she would have to live with it. "Just needed to clear my head a bit, that's all."

"What's going on in that brain of yours?" Cook asked quietly.

"What do you think? I'm nervous about tomorrow. I'm scared about how the twins and their friends are going to react." Naomi shrugged her shoulders as if to blow off her concerns. "You know, little things like that."

"Come inside, breakfast is here." Effy told them both, turning to walk back in, not waiting for them. Naomi and Cook gave each other a look, and then chuckled.

"Naomi, we may have a small problem." Effy started pouring tea as the others sat down. The blonde looked up sharply at the brunette.

"What sort of problem?" She asked, her eyes turning frosty.

Effy nodded at Cook, who sighed and then proceeded to explain what happened last night. By the time he was done, Naomi looked concerned, but for who, was the question.

"So that Mandy slag is really going to try going after Emily?" Naomi asked in disbelief.

"It looks that way. But we could offer her some help." Effy said, buttering another piece of toast.

"Yeah, that's true, Blondie." Cook agreed.

"And how would we do that?" Effy and Cook went through their plan with her. Once they were done, Naomi sat back, thinking over everything.

"That could work, but why don't we just put Mandy out of our misery?" She joked as she sipped her tea.

Effy sat there and watched the blonde across the table. Naomi didn't realize it, but she was no longer concerned about herself. She was truly concerned for the younger Fitch twin. Effy smiled once again, causing all conversation at the table to stop.

"What?" She asked the other two. "Did I drop jam on my shirt?" She looked down to see the damage but found nothing.

"You do realize that when you smile, a small kitten is being killed somewhere." Cook stated flatly causing Naomi to laugh out loud. "It's scary Ef, and you need not do it." He finished as he reached for more eggs.

"Fuck you Cook!"

"Fuck you right back!"

Naomi drifted off into her head again as her friends went about their morning ritual, arguing with each other. Effy's plan was a good one, but she doubted the girls would go for it. Naomi knew she'd never go for it, if she was in Emily's shoes.

Emily.

Just saying the girl's name in her head sent a warm shot of pleasure through her system. She had never met anyone like her before, and that was saying a lot for the few hours they had spent together. Emily Fitch. The red headed girl who works for her parents, but is that what she wants? Naomi asked herself. Doesn't she want more than that? What does she want? Who is she as a person? Why can't I stop thinking about her? There were so many questions running through her over active brain, that Naomi didn't realize that Cook and Effy were trying to get her attention.

She blinked in surprise when she noticed Cooks hand waving in her face. "What?"

"Was it fun in Blondieland?" He asked with a grin. She could feel herself blush harder than she's ever blushed before.

"Cook, stop it." Effy said quietly. The brunette didn't share his grin, but on the inside she smiled at the look on Naomi's face. It had been years since the blonde had that look on her face. And she had a feeling what, or rather who, has put that look there.

The three of them spent the rest of the morning going over last minute details of their Friday night. Once they had everything figured out, Cook left the girls and headed into the city.

"So, Emily?" Naomi's head shot up, and ice blue eyes meet with smokey blue ones. "She is rather beautiful, Naomi. There's no reason to be embarrassed about it."

"Will you please tell me how you do that?" Naomi was exasperated at Effy's mind reading skills. No one is immune to it, Effy can unearth anyone's deepest, darkest secrets. It just irritated the blonde so much sometimes. "Or quit doing it, because it's kinda scary as fuck!"

Effy chuckled, unaffected by Naomi's small outburst. "I can't actually read minds, ya know. I read people."

Naomi stared at her in disbelief at what she just said. "Would you care to elaborate?"

"I watch people, see how they react to situations around them. Body language is a very valuable and sensual form of conversation." Effy explained, almost emotionally. Naomi was having a hard time accepting this new version of her friend. Effy has never done emotions, it just didn't feel right.

Naomi shook her head and threw up her hands in resignation. "I give up trying to figure you out."

Effy chuckled at the blonde. "There's nothing to figure out, Naoms. I'm actually quite simple. It's just nobody wants to take the time to really dig through all my layers to see it." Effy said quietly, her eyes shadowed.

"I'm sorry, Ef. I didn't know." Naomi said, the guilt she felt thick in her voice. She lowered her eyes, unable to look at the brunette.

"Naomi? Please look at me." Effy waited until her eyes lifted back up to her own, "You and Cook have always been in here," she placed her hand to her heart. "You guys have always been past the layers, okay? Don't feel guilty for something that's not even an issue."

Naomi only nodded her because she couldn't trust her voice. They finished their breakfast in silence and then set out to finish preparations for tomorrow night's get together with the Fitch twins and their friends.

* * *

Katie stood in the middle of the liqueur aisle at the local off-license, not sure on what to buy. She tried again to talk Emily out of going to this party, but she was adamant about not letting Mandy run her life. As if that's even possible. Katie sighed, thinking about just how stubborn her sister really was. Freddie didn't help matters, either. For as long as Katie could remember, Emily and Freddie were the best of friends. He was her support system when Emily had come out to the family, he was the one that made it okay for Emily to be different. Katie wished that she had been the one to stand by Emily's side, but she hadn't and it drove a bit of a wedge in between them. They were better now, but Katie still felt guilty about it. She rounded the shelves at the end of the aisle when she ran into someone else's cart with her own.

"Fucks sake! Watch where you're going much?" Katie spat out with so much venom in her voice that the other two people shrank back at her harshness.

"Whoa, calm down there Killer Fitch." A smooth voice caused Katie to actually look at who she was verbally abusing. She saw Effy Stonem and another girl standing in front of her. "Sorry, I didn't see you there." Effy apologized.

"So you're gonna take a crack at my height now?" Katie recovered quickly and smirked at the brunette.

"Well, I did notice you happen to come in fun size, but no, I really didn't see you there." Effy gave the small girl a cheeky smile. "What do you got there?" Effy asked, peeking into Katie's cart. "Is this breakfast?" She pointed to the bottles of vodka that were lining the cart.

Katie snorted at the brunette and shifted her eyes toward the other girl, who has yet to say anything. "No, they're for tomorrow night." She explained.

Effy chuckled and looked toward her friend, standing slightly behind her. "Katie, this isn't college, yeah? I invited you, I'll provide for you."

Katie blushed, and then her eyes flashed with annoyance. "Yeah, well, habits are hard to break. Not all of us can have posh parties all the time." She was finding it hard to hold on to her cool in front of Effy. There was something about Effy that constantly threw her off kilter. "What are you doing here anyway?" She asked in a huff. "Don't you have a maid or someone who does your shopping for you?" The unknown girl chuckled from behind Effy. "And who the hell are you?"

Naomi froze up at the question. Finally having Katie's eyes on her was uncomfortable. She was wearing her baggiest pants and hoodie, with the hood pulled up, along with her favorite wool coat. She was, once again, for the most part, covered from head to toe, but she felt exposed. "I... I'm...uh..." She started to stutter, embarrassing herself.

"Oh for fucks sake!" Effy muttered. "Katie, you remember Naomi?"

Katie stared in disbelief at the goth reject in front of her. "Babes, not for nothing, but your fashion sense is shit!"

Effy laughed at the small girl as she watched Naomi flinch at the harsh words. The blonde was getting anxious at the thought of being scrutinized by the elder Fitch twin.

"I'm not out to impress anyone." She said quietly. "I didn't think I'd have to put on my poshest frock just to buy alcohol."

Katie finally laughed at Naomi's sarcastic words. "Right, sorry, but really don't you think that look is a bit outdated?"

Naomi stood up to her full height as she prepared to blast into the small girl. She caught Effy's look and held back. "It's what I'm comfortable in, yeah?"

"Katie?" Effy grabbed the girl's attention before Naomi unleashed on her. "So, you're bringing everyone, right?" Katie sighed and then nodded. "What's wrong?" Effy asked her, noticing for the first time that Katie had a sad look in her eyes.

"Nothing."

"Bullshit!" Effy stated.

"You might as well tell her, she probably already knows anyway." Naomi said as she crossed her arms in front of herself. "And if she doesn't, she will."

Katie looked a little alarmed at Naomi's statement, but brushed it off. "Look, if you must know, I'm concerned for Emily, alright?" Katie's shoulders slumped, as if she was carrying the world on her shoulders.

Naomi became very interested in the conversation now, as Effy stepped forward and placed her hand on the smaller girls arm. "What's wrong?"

Katie shook her head and looked around to see if anyone was listening. "I can't talk about here."

"Would you like to go for lunch? Our treat. I know this quaint little place on the other side of town, out of the way and private." Effy asked, watching the small brunette.

"Sure, why not." Katie started making her way up to the checkout. "I'm still buying this shit, though." She called over her shoulder as Naomi and Effy chuckled after her.

Twenty minutes later found the girls sitting in the back of a very small cafe. It turned out that Effy was telling the truth about it being private. She was a co-owner along with a girl named Michelle, and it didn't open until later, so they had the place to themselves and Michelle of course.

Once they got their drinks and ordered, Effy and Naomi looked to Katie to start the conversation. When she didn't, Effy sighed.

"So what's got you worked up?" She asked.

"This whole Mandy situation is getting to me." Katie finally saying something.

"Why is it getting to you?" Naomi asked. "Isn't it Emily she's going after?"

Katie narrowed her eyes at the blonde, suspicion evident in her brown orbs. "And just how the fuck do you know that? Are you and Mandy friends?" She was starting to get riled up.

"Fuck no!" Naomi stated, forcefully. "Katie, you were there at the ball, remember?"

"Then how'd you know that Mandy is going to try something?" The smaller girl asked, still wary of the blonde.

Naomi sighed and then looked to Effy for a little help.

"Cook was out last night and saw her at a club. She wasn't quiet about Emily." Effy explained gently, knowing that the brunette was highly strung at this point.

"I knew it! Mandy is going to do something and Emily's just blowing it off!" She slumped down in her seat, crossing her arms in front of her. "She's blowing me off." She said, quieter than before. She looked hurt at the thought that Emily wouldn't take her seriously.

Effy and Naomi sat there as she ranted about Mandy and Emily, and waited until she was done.

"Why wouldn't she listen to you?" Naomi asked, unusually curious. "What do you want her to do?"

Katie glanced at Effy, then over to Naomi, who still had not removed her hood from her head. For some reason that bothered the smaller girl, more than her questions.

"Are you that fucking cold?" She glared at the blonde, who flinched at her tone. She immediately felt guilty about snapping at her, which was so out of character, it wasn't even funny. "I'm sorry. It's just that, when Panda and I had lunch the other day, I ran into Mandy." Katie explained. "It's almost as if she's having Emily followed or something. I'm really afraid for her, but she's so fucking stubborn."

Katie stopped talking as soon as Michelle brought out their food. Effy thanked her and then turned back to the smaller girl.

"So you've talked to Emily about this?" Effy asked.

Katie nodded as she pushed her food around on her plate, she had lost her appetite. "She doesn't want Mandy to have the upper hand, so she's going with Fitch tradition and ignoring it."

Naomi smirked at her honest answer. She was starting to like the older twin, but the girl still scared the shit outta her. The blonde watched as Effy and Katie carried on the conversation, only adding something if she was asked out right. Naomi was starting to get a better picture of who Emily Fitch was, just by listening to Katie.

* * *

They spent over an hour at the cafe, just talking when Katie looked at her watch and was startled to see that she was running late to meet Emily and their mum. After making sure that Katie had directions to their house, they all left, with Katie heading off leaving Naomi and Effy.

Emily sat outside the fitting room with her mum, waiting for Katie to try on her twentieth dress. She didn't mind shopping, but she hated shopping with her mum and Katie. It never failed to bore her to tears. Emily was the type of girl that knew what she wanted in a store and was able to walk in, get it and then walk back out. No fucking about!

Katie was late showing up today and when Emily asked where she had been, Katie replied rather sheepishly that she had met up with some friends. Emily tried to get her to clarify, Katie just shrugged her off. It pissed her off, but there was nothing she could do about it. She had her own shit to worry about.

She had run into Mandy the other day. Emily didn't say anything to anyone about it, but the other girl was starting to scare her. They were going to see the family solicitor this afternoon to see what they could about the girl.

"Katie? Are you almost done in there, dear?" Jenna called from the chair she was sitting in. "We have to meet Doug in forty five minutes."

"Hang on to your vaginas!" Katie shouted as she opened the door. Emily rolled her eyes as her mother hissed in disapproval. "How does it look?" She asked, modeling the dress.

Jenna smiled at how beautiful Katie looked. "Oh, it's simply wonderful Katie."

"Emily? What do you think?" Katie looked to her sister, waiting for her response.

"It's really beautiful, Katie." Emily was being honest. Katie had the ability to be the most beautiful when she dropped her pretenses and attitude. Emily just wished she did it more often. "Is that what you're wearing tomorrow night?"

Katie flinched at the question. Even after talking with Effy and Naomi today, she was still apprehensive about it. It was also something that their mother didn't know anything about.

"What's going on tomorrow?" Jenna asked with interest.

"We've been invited to hang with Effy and Naomi." Emily replied, watching her sister look sheepishly. "Katie didn't tell you?" She smiled sweetly at her mother.

Jenna looked back to Katie, ecstatic at the thought that her children were associating with well to do people. "No. But it probably slipped her mind."

Emily just rolled her eyes at her mother. Katie obviously didn't tell her for a reason, but for the life of her, she couldn't figure out why. But another thing that bothered her was her mum.

Ever since Emily came out, her mother has treated her different. After the initial shock wore off, Jenna was fine with it, but there was a subtle difference in the way she treated her daughters. It's not as if she treated Emily as an outcast, but Jenna had always been nice to any of the guys that Katie's brought to meet the family, whereas unless any girl that Emily is even interested in isn't from a well to do family, Jenna won't even invite her to dinner.

It's little things that on their own don't hurt, but when you add them all up and examine them, you find out it stings badly.

Emily was deep in her thoughts and didn't realise that her mum and Katie were expecting an answer of some kind. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I swear Emily. The way you daydream sometimes. It's amazing you get anything done." Jenna stated, shaking her head.

"I'm sorry, mum. I've just got a lot on my mind." She sighed, sitting up in her chair. "What did you ask?"

"Emily, I was just telling mum how Effy invited us and Freddie, Panda and JJ to just hang out." Katie had a look that urged Emily to agree, but as far as the younger twin knew, that was the truth.

"Well that's nice girls." Their mother said as she headed toward the front of the store, leaving Emily and Katie standing there.

"Katie, do you plan on telling me what the fuck is going on with you anytime soon?" Emily glared at her sister.

"I think you know, but if you're choosing to ignore it, that's all on you." Katie shot back. Emily shook her head as she followed her mum.

Katie sighed to herself as she went back into the dressing room to change. It shouldn't be this hard to talk to her sister she thought to herself.

The three of them made their way into the offices of Burke, Smyth and Devonald later that afternoon.  
Douglas Devonald had been the Fitch family's solicitor since before the twins were born. Rob and Doug had gone to Uni together, and had remained friends.

"Jenna Fitch. I have an appointment with Doug." Jenna told the receptionist.

"Ah, yes Mrs Fitch, please have a seat. He's running a bit late. He told me to make sure you and your girls were comfortable." The girl explained as she looked from Jenna to Katie and Emily. "Would you care for some tea and biscuits?" She asked, with her eyes flicking to the younger twin occasionally.

Katie caught her checking out her sister, but Emily did not, which was strange to say the least. Emily noticed anyone in a skirt that breathed, but it seemed that she has been distracted lately. "No, thank you. We'll just have a seat." Katie said, grabbing Emily by the elbow and guiding her to a sofa. Their mum followed closely behind.

"What?" Emily hissed quietly, making sure their mum didn't hear.

"What is going on with you?" Katie asked, concern in her voice.

"What?" Emily asked, scrunching her face up.

"You didn't notice that girl eye fucking you! Something's going on." Katie spat out.

"I really don't know what's going on with you Kay, but you driving me crazy with you attitude, your sneakiness and your assumptions."

"I bet Freddie knows what's going on, doesn't he? Of course he does. It's always about Freddie." Katie's insecurities were coming back big time. "I swear Emily, if I didn't know for a fact that you were gay, I'd think you and Freds were a couple."

Emily had no way to respond to her sister's outburst, so she said nothing. Jenna had come over and sat with them while they waited.

It wasn't much longer until the receptionist was calling them back, and another forty-five minutes with Doug until they walked out with a date set before the magistrate. Emily and Katie both have to attend and Doug said he would contact Naomi, because she was a witness to the first threat.

Once they got back in their car, Jenna asked them if they wanted to do anymore shopping.

"I can't mum, I have to get back to the gym." Emily said.

"Can we just go home? I'm knackered from this morning." Katie did seem exhausted, Emily thought.

'_What did she do this morning ?_' Emily thought to herself. '_And why is she being so damn secretive?_'

It bothered Emily the rest of the day. It threw her off-balance when Katie acted this way, and there was nothing she could do about it. She had something else to worry about. When she was in Doug's office, he had asked for Naomi's contact information. It was only then that she remembered that the blonde had given her business card.

She had forgotten about it after the ball last week or else she would have called the blonde. Naomi fascinated her, it was as simple as that. Emily found her to be very intelligent and very well read. She was able to hold a conversation with the girl and Emily liked that. Most of the girls she had dated in the past were simple and somewhat vain. Emily found that she was looking for someone with substance. More than just air between her ears.

She sat in her office flipping the card over and over, debating if she should call. 'Fuck it!' She thought. She grabbed her phone and dialed the number. After the third ring, someone picked up.

"Hello?" A smooth, almost deep voice came through the line.

"Um, Naomi Campbell, please?" Emily replied, nervously.

"Hello Emily."

"Hi. How'd you know it was me?"

"Seriously? I could pick your voice out in a crowd of hundreds." Naomi stated with a chuckle, causing her to smile. "What can I do for you?"

Emily was at a bit of a loss about why she had called the blonde. It seemed as if her whole brain shut down listening to Naomi laugh. "Um, right, the reason I called. Well the truth of the matter is my solicitor will be contacting you next week."

"Yeah? What for?" Naomi asked, curiosity lacing her voice.

Emily decided that Naomi's voice was the best sound in the world. "We're trying to get a restraining order in place against Mandy. Since you were there that night and heard what she said, that makes you a witness." Emily explained. "I'm sorry to inconvenience you."

"It's not a problem, really. If you give me his name, I'll call him tomorrow and set up an appointment."

Emily gave her everything she needed, and then silence shot down the phone line because she suddenly ran out of things to say.

"Hello? You still there, Emily?" Naomi asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, yes I'm still here."

"You didn't really think this through, did you?" The blonde asked, with amusement in her voice.

"What?"

"This phone call."

"Um... well I...I...," Emily found herself stuttering, which was mortifying. She really didn't know how to go ahead with the conversation.

"Emily?" The red head could hear the laughter in the other girl's voice.

"I'm sorry." She sighed in defeat. "I forgot about your card until I was at the lawyer's office today and I felt bad for not calling sooner. You probably thought I was blowing you off, and now you're probably thinking I only called because I need something from you." Emily stopped mid rant, because she was running out of breath, hating the word vomit that she couldn't seem to stop at the moment.

Naomi found herself laughing out loud at the younger girl. She thought Emily was adorable and couldn't remember the last time she enjoyed talking on the phone so much.

"Emily? Are you alright?" Naomi asked when she heard the other girl sigh again.

"No, not really." Emily sounded defeated and tired. Naomi picked up on the sound of her voice.

"What's the matter? Is everything alright?"

"It's just this whole Mandy thing. She's more persistent than I thought." Emily said, leaning back in her chair, more composed. "Katie ran into her the other day and she came to the gym yesterday. It wasn't pretty."

"Did she hurt you?" Naomi sat up in her chair, unaccustomed to feeling this protective over someone outside her family. "What did she do?"

"I'm not really sure exactly what went on between her and Katie, but when she came into the gym, she started talking shit." Emily thought about the incident and shuddered. "She's getting harder to ignore and Katie's been acting weird. Do you ever feel like your whole life is going through a major change without your participation?"

"I have felt like that before, but I have learned there's nothing you can do about it except to try and roll with the punches." The blonde stated, thinking about how easy it was to talk to the younger Fitch. "You're still coming tomorrow night, right?"

Emily thought she heard apprehension in Naomi's voice as she asked. "Yeah, as far as I know. Katie's been trying to talk me out of it. She wants me to lock myself up at home until this thing with Mandy is over, but I refuse to hide myself." Emily stated, getting worked up.

"You should probably calm down. I'm sure Katie only wants what's best for you, it sounds like she's concerned for you." Naomi replied, as she thought about the older twin. She knew that Katie was scared for Emily, she had said as much at lunch, but Katie obviously didn't mention meeting up with her and Effy, so she didn't want to cause any problems by saying anything to her.

"Well I don't think you're going to have to worry about that here. It should be fun though." Naomi told her with another laugh.

"Yeah, I hope so." Emily replied with her own chuckle. " I would hate to make an effort for a crappy time."

"I make no promises!" Naomi quipped. "But if nothing else, you can get completely pissed and not have to worry about anyone."

Emily laughed out loud at Naomi's humor. It felt nice just talking to her. "It's nice talking to you." She blurted out. She screwed up her face and slapped her forehead, not believing she said that out loud as Naomi started snickering. "I'm sorry. That was supposed to stay in my head."

"Well, just so you know, I think its nice talking to you too."

They continued to talk, about nothing in particular, for another fifteen minutes until Emily noticed the time.

"Fuck!" She spat out.

"Alright there, Ems?" Naomi asked, unaware of the nickname she just used.

"Sorry Naomi, I hate to end this conversation, but I am so late for my family dinner. I gotta go." Emily explained.

"Oh, okay." Emily thought she sounded disappointed, but then shook off the idea. "I'll see you tomorrow then. Goodnight, Emily."

"See you tomorrow. Naomi?"

"Yeah?"

"Goodnight to you too." Emily said quietly before ending the call.

* * *

Naomi set her phone on the desk. As she sat there, she realised that she felt happy. Like, actually happy. It was such a strange feeling, that she didn't know how to handle it. She did know for a fact that she hadn't felt this way since she was eleven or twelve, since before everything went to shit, but she quickly shut down that train of thought. She wanted to feel this for a bit longer.

Naomi knew it was because of Emily, just talking to her made her feel less alone, less lonely. She hoped that it was Emily that could break the curse, she thought with a smile. Yes, talking to her on the phone felt good, she was thinking to herself as she saved Emily's number in her phone, now if only she can impress the red head tomorrow night face to face, Naomi will be all set.

* * *

**Alright! Another one down:)**

**Let me know what you think...Liked it...Hated it...Thoughts...Feelings...anything at all!**

**Marci**


End file.
